"Our student athletes are great, especially our student athlete advisory committee. We have tons of volunteers that come out every weekend," Fresno State SAAC President Marissa Brand said. "Community service is a huge emphasis in our athletic department and we're just continuing on that tradition."
The Fresno State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is made up of two or more members of each Fresno State athletic team. Meetings are held once a month to talk about how the student athletes can positively affect life on campus. "Fresno State athletics produce a lot of great character people. We bring in a lot of great character athletes. So it doesn't really surprise me that they want to be able to do things like this to give back to the community," SAAC Co-advisor Terrance Wan said. On this particular weekend it was by holding a two day blood drive, which ended just before tipoff of a Bulldog women's basketball game, and attracted a total of 34 donors. "Just the support we have from our fans and you know it's relentless. Win or loss they're always there. And events like this, they're supporting us as well. So they're supporting us on the court, in the classroom, everything. It's awesome," Brand said. "They come out and they enjoy doing it and so we're able to put together a lot of different events. The food drive, the casa toy drive earlier this month, so again the outpouring of support from our student athletes is great." Wan said. And it's not just the student athletes looking to make a difference. Inside the Save Mart Center the Bulldog pantry offered free admission to red wavers who brought a canned food donation to the game. "If they can't afford the food or whatever it may be, then they have to tell their kids hey things are, but we'd like for them not to have to do that. So that's why being here on a Saturday afternoon when it's nice and sunny outside is important to us at the Bulldog Pantry," Taofiki Gafar, Bulldog Pantry leadership member said.
