The Aurora University Athletic Department and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in conjunction with the Spartan Athletic Training Student Organization (SATSO) and Fitness, Physical Education and Coaching Student Organization (FPEC) combined efforts to participate in the ninth annual "Cans Across the Conference" sponsored by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) SAAC.
 
This year they expanded the food drive throughout the entire campus in hopes to collect more items. Senior basketball SACC member Sean Gant discussed the extra efforts that were put into the drive this year, and how all organizations have been getting involved.
 
"With a friendly competition to see which group could collect the most, each group has contributed a lot. One of the sports teams even went trick or treating receiving multiple donations from the community. This year we included the STEM Partnership School and each class has donated to the cause," he said. 
 
When the drive concluded on December 10, AU donated 2,367 collected items to the Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry. 
 
This is a great opportunity for AU to give back to the community and it is something the SACC members look forward to. Nicki Pieart, Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Wellbeing / Senior Woman Administrator discussed the importance of the drive especially with the holidays around the corner. 
 
"Being able to combine our efforts across the conference to help those in need is a great opportunity for our student-athletes and campus community. The food drive is very timely as it reminds our students that around the holidays there are many less fortunate than themselves and doing something tangible to help their community is part of creating and reinforcing the university's citizenship core value," she said.
 
As part of the larger effort by the NACC SAAC, the conference as a whole raised 43,269 items that have been donated to local charities throughout the conference. The Spartans finished with the fifth most goods raised among the 12 NACC schools and the NACC office.
 
For a complete list of the final collections in the NACC – click here.