By: Erica Lampert ~Staff Writer~
Xavier Club Sports and the Office of Residence Life began the Club Sport’s clothing drive on Jan. 26.
Each late January and early February since 2012, at the end of January and the beginning of February, the club sports program has collected more than 2,000 clothing items and donated them to St. Vincent de Paul in Cincinnati to help give back to the community.
“The main goal of the Club Sports clothing drive is to bring together more than 600 student athletes to give back to the local community,” Vice President of Club Sports Council Bryan Walther said.
All across campus there are receptacles for clothing. Most will be on the first floors of the residence halls, and anyone who wishes to donate must make sure to bag the donations, label the bags with the residence hall’s name and what clothing items are within the bag.
Although all clothing is appreciated, Club Sports asks donors not to include underwear and socks for this donation.
“We had a St. Vincent de Paul club at my old high school. I love the fact that I and several of my fellow students can donate there again to give back to the community,” first-year student Colleen Cavanagh said.
One of the main questions the club asks is “what can they do to service and give back to the community around them?” A clothing drive is one of its answers.
“Clothing drives are an effective way to pool all of the students together in order to give to the community around Xavier,” Walther said.
In addition to the clothing drive, Club Sports has started a canned food drive. In November it donated 485 cans of food to Bond Hill Food Pantry, another local organization serving the local community.
“We plan on continuing the canned food drive in future years and hope to make it as successful as the clothing drive,” Walther said.
Club Sports has large amounts of clothes already collected and ready to donate.
“We are very happy so far with the drive, and we would always like as much participation as possible from the Xavier community. It’s not too late to donate,” Walther said.
Over the past two years, Xavier Club Sports has donated more than 5,000 clothing items.
“Service is an extremely important part of the program and Club Sports is very involved in community service activities,” Walther said.