Friday, December 21, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – In the season of giving, members of a number of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) took time out of their busy academic and athletic schedules to spread some joy to children in their local communities.

Christmas came early in Burnaby, B.C., as Simon Fraser’s SAAC teamed up with a pair of local organizations, Operation Christmas Child and Deltassist, which holds annual gift drives for children and families, to deliver Christmas boxes for those in need. The SFU SAAC coordinated this initiative and encouraged all to donate items. With a collection in the school’s Loren Davies Complex, the main athletics facilities, the Simon Fraser SAAC coordinated the drive and hosted a festive box stuffing event filled with Christmas music and holiday snacks. The Clan was able to fill and decorate 54 boxes to donate to Deltassist.

Western Washington’s SAAC delivered Christmas baskets to those in need in Bellingham. Their SAAC coordinated with Operation Christmas Child and Lydia Place, which serves homeless families in the Bellingham community. They put together a drive to collect items for these families that they compiled into Christmas “Welcome Home” baskets and coordinated the event to put together the baskets. Every athletics team purchased items and put together a basket for a family in need. Western Washington was able to put together 16 baskets for Lydia Place.  

Alaska brought in the holiday festivities with their annual Teddy Bear Toss at the Carlson Center. Alaska’s SAAC asked fans to bring teddy bears to throw onto the ice at the first intermission of the Nanooks’ Dec. 1 hockey game against Ferris State. The bears were collected by SAAC members and student-athletes from the ice. This year, their SAAC collected a total of 240 bears with 200 bears being donated to their local Santa’s Helpers and 40 donated to the local hospital. Santa’s Helpers puts together gift baskets to be given out to local families in need, and the bears donated will go to families with small children.