NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana, South Alabama and UT Arlington each won Sun Belt Conference Community Service Awards as announced on Thursday. Each school won a monthly award: South Alabama in September, Louisiana in October and UTA in November.
Each university made significant efforts in their communities during the fall semester to be recognized with the monthly honors. The Sun Belt Community Service Initiative is a monthly competition that encourages student-athletes to get involved in their communities. Point totals are awarded based on a number of factors and the school with the most monthly points is recognized as the winner for that month. The school with the most monthly wins will be the winner of the overall competition
For a full week in September, the University of South Alabama Jaguars football team parked its trailer at Stanky Field. The university put out a call to the community to fill it with donations for flood survivors in South Louisiana. The Mobile, Ala., community responded in a big way, and the truck, along with several others, delivered the much-needed supplies to the Student Union on the Louisiana campus. It started with a simple text conversation between athletic directors, before South Alabama’s Joel Erdmann decided to gather his staff and student-athletes to help.
18 student-athletes from the Louisiana baseball team volunteered a total of 108 hours in October. The student-athletes planted fruit trees as part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Day of Service.
UTA student-athletes completed numerous community service projects during the month of November. The athletic department raised 3,521 canned food items to be donated to Mission Arlington. Three organizations assisted the UTA SAAC with the event: Baptist Student Ministry, Fellow Christian Athlete and UTA Lambdas.
The volleyball team raised $3,109 for the Side-Out Foundation during the month, focused around its annual “Dig Pink” game. The funds will help the Side-Out Foundation raise awareness for breast cancer.
Cook’s Children’s Hospital.
43 track & field student-athletes volunteered to help at the UIL Cross Country meet by performing various duties throughout the day. The softball team also volunteered at the Making Strides of North Texas walk, working outside and handing out encouragement and bottles of water to participants. The UTA men’s golf team volunteered at a local 5K as well.
Community Service Initiative Overall Standings
- Louisiana - 50
- UTA – 50
- South Alabama – 38
- Coastal Carolina - 35
- Texas State – 27
- Little Rock – 26
- ULM – 23
- Arkansas State – 18
- Georgia Southern - 17
- Georgia State – 14
- Troy – 13
- Appalachian State - 6
September Community Service Initiative Results
- South Alabama – 177,541
- UTA – 55,835
- Louisiana – 54,251
- Coastal Carolina – 46,919
- ULM – 30,333
- Little Rock – 27,864
- Texas State – 14,681
- Arkansas State – 14,203
- Georgia State – 12,574
- Troy – 4,611
- Appalachian State – 1,840
- Georgia Southern - 0
October Community Service Initiative Results
- Louisiana – 15,349
- Coastal Carolina – 13,343
- Texas State – 12,489
- UTA – 10,988
- Arkansas State – 10,035
- South Alabama – 3,613
- Troy – 3,493
- ULM – 1,796
- Georgia Southern – 1,209
- Appalachian State – 228
- Georgia State – 0
- Little Rock - 0
November Community Service Initiative Results
- UTA – 32,357
- Little Rock – 30,327
- Louisiana – 24,377
- Georgia Southern – 11,996
- Georgia State – 6,679
- South Alabama – 4,044
- ULM – 3,410
- Coastal Carolina – 3,119
- Texas State – 2,819
- Arkansas State – 2,470
- Troy – 1,001
- Appalachian State - 241