West Hills Food Pantry Website
Moon Township, Pa. - Two Pittsburgh Universities, Robert Morris and Duquesne, put their competitive differences aside to make a difference in the local community.
The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) students from these rival schools came together to run a canned food drive Saturday, Oct. 19, when the Colonials hosted the Dukes in their annual football game under the lights at Joe Walton Stadium. Each committee worked weeks before the game to get donations, and even made it a competition between athletic teams.
"For Robert Morris, we made it a contest between teams to create a competitive atmosphere that allowed the athletes to step up," Robert Morris SAAC President
Leah Prentice said. "Women's soccer won the competition donating 300 cans. Softball, with 269 cans, and women's track, with 202 cans were close behind. I feel that this canned food drive showed what an enormous impact our student-athletes can have if we come together and work as one big team."
In total the food drive donated around 2,000 canned food items to the West Hills Food Pantry in Moon Township. The Duquesne SAAC and the RMU SAAC combined to donate 1,861 cans.
There was also an incentive for community members to donate; if community members donated to the drive at the game they received $1 off of their ticket price. The community utilized this incentive and brought in cans and monetary donations. The monetary donations were used to purchase more canned foods, bringing the final total donated to around 2,000 cans.
Despite the poor weather and the two schools competitive rivalry, these universities stepped up, worked together and made a difference in the local community.
"It was amazing how the two schools came together to collect so many cans and help out the local West Hills Food Pantry," Prentice said.
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