Jan. 12, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - - The University of Memphis athletic department collected 5,539 pounds of food that was donated to the Mid-South Food Bank as part of the 2008 C-USA SAAC Cup event in December. Each C-USA institution selected a local food bank to submit donations to and entered a competition, with the winning school collecting the most food by weight. More than 15 tons of food totaling 31,331.32 pounds was collected conference-wide, which is the equivalent of more than 25,000 meals.

The Tigers donated the third-highest amount of food in the competition, distributing 5,539 pounds to the Mid-South Food Bank. The Mid-South Food Bank manages a warehouse distribution center for various programs, including a kids café program which provides food for kids in a restaurant-atmosphere in their neighborhoods, and food for kids backpack programs, which allowed children to go home with a backpack filled with nutritional food on the weekends.

Tulsa won the 2008 Let's SAAC Hunger Program for collecting a total of 8,381.52 pounds of food, which was donated to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. The 2008 C-USA SAAC Cup will be presented by a Tulsa SAAC to Tulsa Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham later this semester.

Rice University finished second with 5,623 pounds of food for the Houston Food Bank.

The C-USA SAAC was formed in 1998 when the NCAA adopted proposal No. 98-99 which mandated that Division I conferences have a student-athlete advisory committee. The Committee consists of 12 members (one from each institution). The Committee meets five times a year, while each individual chapter serves on its own host institution's campus with student-athletes from all sports involved in the chapter of SAAC.

Institution		Pounds Donated		# of Meals

Tulsa			8,381.52 pounds		6,705.22 meals
Rice			5,623.00 pounds		4,498.40 meals
Memphis		        5,539.00 pounds		4,431.20 meals
Southern Miss		2,838.00 pounds		2,270.40 meals
East Carolina		2,574.00 pounds		2,059.20 meals
Marshall		2,030.00 pounds		1,624.00 meals
UTEP			1,920.80 pounds		1,536.64 meals
Houston		        837.00 pounds		669.60 meals
UCF			810.00 pounds		648.00 meals
SMU			714.00 pounds		517.20 meals
Tulane			64.00 pounds		51.20 meals
UAB			TBA			TBA
Total		   31,331.32 pounds	25,011.06 meals