The Spring Hill girls with Mrs. Shirey (far right)

The Spring Hill Lady Bears Basketball Team got together to help a local woman and former Spring Hill teacher with yard work Wednesday morning after she received knee surgery.

Barbara Shirey, a former Spring Hill music teacher, recently had knee surgery for a joint replacement and, with her husband being a disabled veteran, was unable to do yard work herself. That's when the Spring Hill Lady Bears Basketball Team stepped in to help.

"She is a teacher at our school and a big supporter of our teams and kiddos," Austin Kidd, the coach of the Spring Hill Lady Bears Basketball Team, said. "I stress to the girls the importance of serving your community and servant leadership. It’s something we really stress in our program about helping others and hard work"

The girls got there around 11 in the morning and helped for two hours with yard work, weeding, raking, picking up sticks, cleaning carport drive way, cleaning the flower beds, picking up pine cones and other regular yard work-related activities.

"It was wonderful," Mrs. Shirey said. "They chose to do some community projects and they knew that I had surgery and that Mr. Shirey had some health issue. They came over and worked in our yard and did some things that we weren't able to do. We greatly appreciated it."

Mr. and Mrs. Shirey gave out snacks and water to the girls and Mrs. Shirey says that the girls put out an amazing effort.

"Each one of the girls worked really hard," she said. "They came with their smiles, their work gloves and their good work ethic and did just an amazing job. It was just a great coming together of hard workers and people that knew each other."

Mrs. Shirey says that she's thankful that Coach Kidd is teaching the girls life lessons like these.

"We just commend Coach Kidd for recognizing that all of that builds character," she said. "The girls were very receptive to the work; there wasn't any mumbling or groaning from any part of the girls. They just each came in and got some type of work toll. It was just an extension of what those girls are being taught on the court. It was a wonderful effort on the part of the Lady Bears."

Mrs. Shirey says that Coach Kidd got in contact with her about having the girls help out while she was watching one of their practices.

"Mr. Shirey and I are both big fans of all of the sports in Spring Hill," she said. "We've been fans for over 35 years and we continue to be fans. Coach Kidd saw me on campus and asked 'how are you all getting around?' I told him it was really difficult because I had a total knee replacement and Mr. Shirey, as you all know, is having some difficulty with his health. He said that they would like to come and do a community project in the yard and I said it would be greatly appreciated."

For the Coach Kidd and especially the girls, helping out Mrs. Shirey was a no-brainer.

"All of our students love Mrs. Shirey, 'Mrs. B' as they call her," Nicki Purifoy, a mother of one of the Spring Hill girls that helped out, said. "It didn't matter what she needed done, any student at that school would do it with a smile and ask what else they can do."

Mr. and Mrs. Shirey were very appreciative of the Lady Bears helping out and even got emotional over it according to Purifoy.

"I think at one point her and her husband both were in tears because they were so proud of the girls and voiced it over and over to each of the girls," she said.

Purifoy says that helping each other out is just apart of what makes the community of Spring Hill special.

"That's one thing about our school and our community, everyone pulls together to help when one of theirs, or anyone they know, is in need," she said. "The entire school loves Mrs. B, they would do anything for her."

As for Mrs. Shirey, or "Mrs. B" as the girls call her, she says that she is doing better after her surgery.

"I'm progressing pretty well," she said. "I have six more weeks of physical therapy. I go three days a week to Texarkana and I'm making really good progress with the PT. I'm just thankful and grateful that I have two really good therapists that have been working with me and continue working with me."