KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Partnering with the Safe Kids Kalamazoo County organization, the Western Michigan women's basketball team spent time Wednesday teaching children in the West Michigan area how to walk safely to school.

FOLLOW THE TEAM ON TWITTER: @WMU_WBB

The Broncos met with children from Parchment North Elementary with the help from Safe Kids Kalamazoo County, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids Kalamazoo Country was founded in 1989 and is led by Bronson Children's Hospital. The team met with kids from kindergarten through fifth grade, chatting with them about what it means to walk safely across the street after the kids got off the bus.

"It felt good to help out with this cause because there are so many kids that look up to us and were so happy to see a college basketball player," sophomore guard Deja Wimby said. "It was a really fun experience because I had so many girls tell me something like, "I want to be like you someday," so that really made me feel good. I think this shows a lot about our character as a team and how much we want to help the Kalamazoo community in any way that we can, whether that is helping kids at an elementary school or serving food at a soup kitchen like we did over the summer."

The Brown & Gold start the season on Nov. 13 with a home game against Davidson starting at 1 p.m. The Broncos also host Alma College for an exhibition game on Nov. 5 at 1 p.m.