Peru State PASA Participates in Giving Day and Make a Difference Day

(Peru, Neb.) – The Peru State Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) was formed ten years ago by the College's athletic administration. Recently renamed as the Peru Association for Student Athletes (PASA), part of the group's annual discussion revolves around the NAIA's Champions of Character Initiative.
 
One pillar of the Champions of Character program is servant leadership. For seven years in a row, SAAC (now PASA) decided one of their fall community service projects would include participating in the annual Make A Difference Day. Considered to be the nation's largest day of service, Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others – a celebration of people helping people. It was created by USA WEEKEND Magazine and is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October.
 
After a two-year hiatus in not combining their fall efforts with Make A Difference Day, the prime opportunity to bring back the project was presented to PASA. This year, the College and its Foundation was holding its first-ever Giving Day which coincided with the College's 152^nd birthday on October 24. One of the tenants of the Giving Day was to have students across the campus become involved.
 
Community service co-chair Maddy McPhillips (Omaha) met with athletic department officials to discuss potential ideas for the fall servant leadership project. It was discussed that PASA consider doing their previous fall community service event in conjunction with the College's Giving Day. McPhillips, a junior women's basketball player, jumped on the idea and sought approval of the PASA members to bring back the proven and previously successful community service effort.

Similar to previous reiterations of the effort, PASA organized a competition among the athletic teams and encouraged team members, their families, and friends to donate cold-season items and personal hygiene supplies such as cough drops, tooth brushes, caps, mittens, cleaning supplies, and other winter-related clothing. The ultimate goal was to secure a minimum of 152 items overall. However, the challenge for each team quickly became that they try secure that amount as a team.
 
McPhillips, with assistance of some of her basketball teammates, made thermometers to track the progress of each team. During the week of Oct. 21, boxes were put in the Student Center where items could be donated for each respective team. In addition, the boxes were available at the football game that Saturday.
 
The overall goal was easily succeeded as initially nearly 900 items had been collected. Later, other items were donated and PASA had secured well over 1,000 items to donate to Project Response and SENCA. Project Response, Inc., is a non-profit domestic and sexual violence prevention agency headquartered in Auburn. The Southeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership, aka SENCA, provides many services for those in need in the area.
 
The women's basketball team easily won the competition for 2019 as they secured 409 items. The football team was second with 123 items while the men's basketball team garnered 109 things. Also gathering more than 100 pieces was the baseball team.
 
Recently, members of the women's basketball team and coaches delivered the items to Project Response and SENCA. Project Response executive director Ashley Robertson was very appreciative of the donation. Robertson stated, "It brightens our day when community members show up at our door with donations. We serve so many individuals and families within our community that sometimes just need a little extra help. Without the support of our community members we wouldn't be able to provide that extra help, so on behalf of the agency and those we serve a huge thank you to PASA for the generous donation."  
 
In addition to the Giving Day efforts, the basketball teams collected canned goods at their first basketball game for delivery to the SENCA panty.

Nicole Wilken, family development associate for SENCA, left a similar message on the associate athletic director's phone. Wilken noted, "The donations were very much appreciated, especially during this time of year."
 
McPhillips was pleased with the overall outcome of this year's fall community service activity. She said, "While it takes time and effort to pull off such an undertaking, the work involved was well worth it as we obviously were very successful." Continuing, McPhillips stated, "I want to thank all of the athletic teams for participating in the event and securing over 1,000 items for Project Response and SENCA. PASA more than exceeded our initial goal. This was an excellent outcome which helps continue our efforts as a Champions of Character institution."
 
Deborah Solie, Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Fund for the College's Foundation, and one of the co-chairs for the College's Giving Day, noted PASA's efforts was one of the larger student undertakings for week. Solie noted, "PASA extended their efforts throughout the week and it was a tremendous success. We had at least 174 student volunteers who put in over 516 hours of service on the Giving Day." Concluding, Solie stated, "What PASA was able to do for those in need in our area is representative of how a student organization can give back to our communities through volunteerism."