RELEASED:  Monday, June 9, 2008

WIAC Student-Athletes and Ministry Health Care “Help Feed The Hungry”

Madison, Wis.--In the seventh year of the “Help Feed the Hungry” campaign, Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) student-athletes were able to collect a record 14,782 food items for Wisconsin’s food pantries.  Partnered with Ministry Health Care, student-athletes stepped up to the challenge this year and easily surpassed last year's record donation by over 3,200 items.

Leading the conference in 2007-08 was UW-River Falls, whose student-athletes were able to exceed 3,000 food items. 

Each school in the conference had the latitude to decide how and when they collected the non-perishable food items.  For example, institutions give discounts at athletics events for those who donate items, while others solicited door-to-door on campus or in the surrounding community.  Ministry Health Care assisted in the campaign by providing collection bags and cards that were printed with information about the food drive.   Each institution distributed the collected food items to a food pantry located in the community.

The WIAC prides itself in the extensive community-service activities that its student-athletes are involved in each year.   In addition to the “Help Feed the Hungry” Food Drive, the WIAC Student-Athlete Advisory Council sponsors an annual community/campus project week during which the student-athletes on each campus are expected to plan a variety of projects to benefit their campuses and/or local community areas.  Past examples include: sport carnivals, Kid’s Night Out events, Hungry and Homeless activities, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life and “Soles for Souls.”

Ministry Health Care, a major corporate partner of the WIAC, is a values-driven health care delivery network of aligned hospitals, clinics and other providers, based in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  With over 12,000 employees including physicians and health professionals, Ministry also offers home health, hospice, long-term care facilities, dialysis services, a health plan and many other services.