Cottonwood Inc. employee Yvette Bell, left, shows KU women's basketball player Keena Mays, of Arlington, Texas, how to package gift bags Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. Cottonwood employs people with developmental disabilities.

Kansas University women’s basketball players Krysten Boogaard and Angel Goodrich competed in a different way than they were used to on Thursday.

The two went head-to-head in a competition to put together a store display box for Chinet cups while visiting Cottonwood Inc., 2801 W. 31st St., with the rest of the team.

Despite getting home from a victory at Colorado at 3 a.m., the team called on the workers at the organization, which provides job and living services for people with developmental disabilities.

After a short tour, the players sat down with the workers to help them complete their jobs, which included packing bags of information for a conference in Orlando, Fla., packing goodie bags of toys for parties at a pizza restaurant, and the company’s main contract, assembling cargo straps for the military.

Sophomore Monica Engelman sat next to Deb Sebbert and helped her pack bags full of toys while they talked about the team.

“I know it’s special to us, but it means a lot to them too,” Engelman said.

In another room, senior Marisha Brown helped bag cargo straps next to Renae Johnson, who has worked at Cottonwood for more than 20 years. Johnson said she sometimes gets to go to the women’s games when she’s not at Cottonwood or at her other job, rolling silverware at On the Border, 3080 Iowa.

“I knew some of them before,” Brown said of the people working around her. “Some of them did a Special Olympics clinic with us.”

Peggy Wallert, director of community relations at Cottonwood, said each contract was divided into separate jobs, which made it easier for people to find something they liked doing.

“We make sure that everybody is able to do something they enjoy,” she said.

The part they enjoyed most Thursday was the tour, and the players were greeted on each portion to cheers of “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” and workers clapping along to “I’m a Jayhawk.”

Trena Anderson, director of basketball operations, knew it would be good for the team to tour the facility and visit with workers after last year’s visit fell through during the blizzard.

“It’s good for them to meet some of the consumers who support them,” she said. “It’s good for them to give back and get involved, and know sometimes life isn’t as easy as it is for them.”