The "Cans Across the Conference" is a friendly competition organized by the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC), where conference members strive to collect the most canned food and non-perishable items. This initiative, started in 2006, has been a collaborative effort by the NACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) to make a positive impact in each institution's respective community. SAAC coordinates this annual canned food drive, turning it into a community service competition among the 13 institutions in the conference. Each campus's SAAC collects cans and other non-perishable items to support a local charity.

As part of the 2025 campaign, the Aurora University athletic department donated the collected items to the Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry. In addition to food items, each one-dollar ($1) donated will be counted as two cans, and toiletries such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and deodorant will also be accepted.

From October 28 to November 22, the Aurora University Athletic Department was honored to participate in the 20th annual "Cans Across the Conference," organized by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Each campus's SAAC collected cans and other non-perishable items to support a local charity. In the 2024 campaign, AU collected 4,670 items. This year, the Spartans collected 6,670 cans, destroying last year's AU and NACC winning number!

Three teams each collected the equivalent of over 1,000 cans (women's lacrosse, baseball, football), with women's lacrosse collecting 55.55 cans per player, enough to win the internal competition within the AU Athletic Department. Baseball donated the most cans overall with 1,368. Overall, the average contribution was 230 cans per varsity and club team.