By: Angel Dominguez
The Athletics Department partnered with Civic Learning and SAAC to work together for the annual Thanksgiving food drive.
This year, each team was responsible for one basket, which totals 13 baskets across each Dominican sports teams. Additionally, another 10 baskets were created by staff and coaches within the department.
Tyler Stibal, athletics operations coordinator, credited the success of the number of baskets raised to the effort of everyone involved.
“With each team creating a basket for a family this season, there has been tremendous efforts with our SAAC representatives to get every athlete involved,” said Stibal. “We have had great success, and the teams take pride in their baskets.”
The department also worked with Paul Simpson, director of Civic Learning, to help deliver the baskets.
Simpson credits the start of this food drive back to 2015, where it was founded and organized by Dominican alum Laila Mitchell and MaDonna Thelen.
“For me, this is like a shot of good energy,” said Simpson. “I needed to power through these last few weeks, but it was a reminder of how generous and nurturing the people in our community are.”
Students also expressed their appreciation and happiness with all the hard work put into the drive.
Matthew Galdi, a member of the SAAC and Dominican’s men’s baseball team, said he thinks it is important to donate to help those in need.
“Every member of SAAC was ecstatic to help out and be able to give as much as we possibly could,” said Galdi. “This is one of our favorite events of the year.”
The department collected a total of 23 baskets for the drive. Over 1000 items and over $500 in gift cards were also donated.
