ROCK HILL, SC— For a third consecutive year, Winthrop Athletics has been declared the winner of the Big South Conference Kallander Cup Challenge for its efforts in collecting more than 1,200 pounds of soap and personal care products towards the more than one-and-a-half tons received for Soap for Souls, a Conference-wide initiative.
The winner of the 2010-11 Kallander Cup was announced today by the Conference office following last week's sixth annual Leadership Conference which was held in Black Mountain, NC. This past season, the Conference's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) adopted Soap for Souls as its Community Service Challenge and collected a total of 3,375 pounds of soap and toiletry items that will be donated to local charities and shelters.
"Once again our student-athletes have demonstrated their commitment to service to others. For the Big South Conference to award the Kallander Cup, recognizing community service, to Winthrop for the third year in a row is quite an achievement for our student-athletes,” said Winthrop Athletic Director
Tom Hickman. “This accomplishment is further demonstration that Winthrop student-athletes are learning to become leaders through athletics. This is the good that comes from college athletics that often times gets overlooked and not reported in the media. I am very proud of our student-athletes," he said.
Each Big South member institution's SAAC collected travel-sized soap and other personal care products at various on-campus athletic events and Conference championships throughout the year. Gardner-Webb finished second with 935 pounds collected, followed by Charleston Southern with 600 pounds.
“Working on the Soap for Souls project was an awesome experience and an amazing group effort,” said Carol Reda, vice president of Winthrop's SAAC and a member of the softball team.” Collecting over 1,200 pounds of toiletries was a great feat for us, and something we should all be very proud of achieving. We hope our efforts will help members of our community and the victims of the tornadoes in the Southeast. It was great seeing each Winthrop team make a contribution to the project allowing us to bring home the Kallander Cup for the third year in a row.”
According to
Norma McDuffie, Winthrop's SAAC advisor and Senior Woman Administrator, Winthrop collected 1,235 pounds of travel size toiletries and raised $425 for Soap for Souls which was used to purchase items. “Our SAAC challenged the students at Finley Road Elementary to help with the project. The Finley Road students donated $100 to our fundraising efforts and donated many boxes of supplies. Our student-athletes rewarded the Findley Elementary kids for their efforts by hosting a Field Day during the spring.
McDuffie said that almost 300 pounds of supplies were given to Pilgrim's Inn and 700 pounds of toiletries were sent to the victims of tornado devastations in the Southeast. In addition to those donations, boxes of items have also been distributed to Blackmon Road's “A Place for Hope” and Safe Passage.
“I am so proud of our student-athletes on their contributions to the Kallander Cup project, and I appreciate the leadership of our Student-Athlete Advisory Council members who organized this project. I am fortunate to work for a University and Athletic department that emphasizes service among all of our students,” McDuffie said.
