University athletics is collecting canned food to give to a local food pantry.
Athletics officials are teaming up with Skyline Urban Ministry to provide canned food for their food pantry. Skyline Urban Ministry, an offshoot of the United Methodist Church, works to provide food, eye care and other services to less financially stable populations of Oklahoma City.
The annual canned food drive is annual was first proposed by baseball player and Alumnus David Mann, Athletic Director Jim Abbott said. Mann proposed serving a food pantry.
“I was influenced by his passion,” Abbott said. “I just remember it as clear as it was yesterday.”
Mann’s proposal was about or 14 years ago, and the school’s canned food drives began about 10 years ago, Abbott said.
For the drive, every student athlete works with their respective team to collect cans. While there is no specific goal for the drive, the teams with the lowest numbers sometimes get called out by Abbott for not trying, he said.
Senior Cheerleader Dominique Kopecky said she finds this time of year to be an especially good time to give to those who are less fortunate.
“I really love it,” Kopecky said. “I do think this is a really good way to get everyone involved. I don’t really know about other schools doing something like this.”
This year, a Skyline representative expressed concern on whether or not they could meet Oklahoma City’s needs with the food pantry, Abbott said. Abbott said he reassured the representative that OCU would make meeting the city’s needs possible.
“Ultimately, for me, I’m 54 years old. I’ve never had a day in my life where I didn’t know if I was gonna eat,” Abbott said. “And yet people around our campus, they don’t know if they’re gonna eat. And it’s pretty easy for me to maybe impact that, if only for a day, or a week, or a month. We’re pretty fortunate, and we all come together for a common purpose that really can impact somebody.”
Athletics officials will stop turning in cans on Sunday Dec. 9. To donate to the canned food drive, students may give a can to a student athlete or attend the spirit squad’s STUNT Scrimmage on Nov. 30 and give five cans of food in lieu of paying a five dollar entry fee.
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