Written by Paige Stanley. Media by Allyson Mitchell.
SAAC needs our help! First off, what is SAAC? SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Council), is a club that helps with community service projects on and off campus. One of their purposes is to serve as role models to younger athletes and even their peers here at Greenville University.
Media by SAAC
A huge project is happening soon and, as previously stated, we need everyone’s help for it to be successful. The project is through Samaritan’s Purse, where students will be filling shoe boxes that will then be shipped off to kids in need who have not experienced Christmas in the same way many Americans have. You may have heard of this project before, often referred to as Operation Christmas Child. The goal of Samaritan’s Purse is to live out Luke 10:30-37. That is why the project is so important to the organization and is always a big success. Now it is our turn to live out the Samaritan story and help provide for these beautiful children.
How does it work? Well, first of all, there need to be teams. If you are a student-athlete on campus, your athletic team is your team for this project. If you play multiple sports, you will participate with whichever team is currently in season.
All you have to do is bring in the items to the collection table SAAC members will have set up in the Rec. Center on Wednesday, November 8 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m!
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When children from all over the world open these boxes, we want their eyes to light up. Remember Christmas morning when you were a kid and you saw the biggest and best present ever? That is what it is like for these kids but ten times better. So when they first open it, we want a “wow” quality gift right on top. These items can be anything from a stuffed animal to a ball with a pump, or even an outfit. You can also include care items, accessories, and toys.
Please do NOT include candy, toothpaste, used or damaged items, war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures, chocolate or food, seeds, fruit rolls or other fruit snacks, drink mixes (powder or liquid), liquids or lotions, medications or vitamins, breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers, aerosol cans.”
Picking out the right gifts are important to these children’s Christmas and even their everyday lives. A simple band-aid and stuffed animal can show more love than you might think.
By the way, winners get free pizza! If you drop your items off at the D.C, make sure to give them your name so you have a chance at winning. To determine the winner we will be taking a ratio of items to the number of people on the team. Some teams are a bit bigger than others, so to make it fair, we must approach it this way. There are three age groups that shoeboxes are designated for. These are females or males ages 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. Each sports team will be assigned one of these groups.
They are as follows:
Photo by: Church of Colleyville
Baseball, M 5-9
Men’s Basketball, M 10-14
Women’s Basketball, F 10-14
Bass Fishing, M 5-9
Cheerleading & Dance, F 5-9
Cross Country, M&F 2-4
Football 1, F 5-9
Football 2, M 10-14
Football 3, M 2-4
Softball, F 10-14
Men’s Soccer, M 5-9
Women’s Soccer, F 2-4
Tennis, M 2-4
Track: Sprinters/Jumpers, F 2-4
Track: Throwers, F 5-9
Men’s Volleyball, M 10-14
Women’s Volleyball, F 10-14
For further information, please visit the Samaritan’s Purse website, or contact Skylar Bareford or Kori Nesbit.
