FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee recently participated in two annual fall community service events, its clothing drive with Broward Partnership and its HANDY (Helping Abused Neglected Disadvantaged Youth) holiday food drive.
 
On Oct. 31, SAAC dropped off around 1,000 articles of clothing and shoes of all sizes. The drive started at the beginning of the school year, with several teams bringing in boxes of clothes at the fall kickoff party. NSU women's soccer student-athlete Cydney Niedermeyer (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) helped make the drop off and reflected on her experience.
 
"The members were very grateful and were welcoming when I arrived," said Niedermeyer. "I met some of the people living at the shelter and was very touched by their stories. One man asked, "Are there any clothes in there that will fit me? It is starting to get cold and I do not have enough money, obviously, to buy a jacket.' When I told him there was, I have never seen anyone's face light up with so much excitement. It was a great experience, even though I was just dropping off clothes, it in some way changed the way I look at life now."
 
On Nov. 17, SAAC completed its food drive with the HANDY food drive. NSU student-athletes gathered over a dozen boxes and baskets full of food for the upcoming holiday season. Some teams, such as women's soccer, even left hand written notes for the families the food would be donated to.
 
The drop off was organized by Niedermeyer and performed by softball's Krista Colburn (Sr. Meade, Colo.), last year's project lead, men's golf's Ian Facey (Sr. Miami, Fla.) and James Swan (Sr., London, England), women's golf's Katrina Wang (So., Shenzhen, China) and tennis' Alexandra Johansson (Sr., Sydney Australia).
 
SAAC will continue its fall charity efforts as well as its ongoing drive to raise funds for Make-A-Wish South Florida.