UW-Superior Partners with Second Harvest Food Bank For 2018-2019 Cause Games

Each Yellowjacket sport will dedicate one game this season to helping fight hunger in the Northland.

SUPERIOR, Wisc. – While University of Wisconsin-Superior fans are getting ready to cheer on their favorite sports, the student-athletes themselves are preparing to make a big difference of the field.

The Yellowjackets announced that they will be partnering with Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank for its cause games during the upcoming season.

UWS started partnering with local organizations three years ago and has seen a good amount of success since. They donated $2,200 to the Essentia health Foundation for breast cancer awareness in 207, and $5,000 to six different local sports organizations last year. They decided as a department to switch their focus to fighting hunger for this season.

“As a staff, we throw out a ton of ideas of what we wanted to dedicate but when childhood hunger came up and working with second harvest, it was kind of a slam dunk for everyone in our department to get behind this year,” Director of Athletics Nick Bursick said.

Each UWS team will dedicate one game to Second Harvest, collecting food and monetary donations, as well as sell tee shirts. They’ll also wear orange jerseys, hats, or warmup shirts for that game, as orange is the color of the childhood hunger fight. Outside of the game, the Yellowjacket sports teams will spend time volunteering at the food bank, taking their involvement one step further.

“This is really the first year that we’re taking the next step and going hands on and doing a little bit more hard community service where our student–athletes are out in the community giving back so we’re excited for it, I know our student–athletes are excited get over there and help,” Bursick said.

Junior men’s basketball player Mac Reykdal, who won the Superior Community Service Award last season, is excited for this year’s partnership and loves to give back to the community as much as possible, since they’re always out there supporting the teams.

“It means a lot because they’re so influential in how we progress as people on and off the court, so we strive to show the community that we’re doing well,” Reykdal said.

Second Harvest is excited about this partnership with UWS for many reasons, but is mainly excited to hopefully get the word out more about what they do and who they serve.

“Awareness, getting the word out, that’s the biggest thing. We rely on volunteers and awareness of our cause and so for them to put the word out, the good word out, and getting more people involved, that’s the most important,” Marketing and Special Events Director Rob Sidenberg said of what he hopes UWS can help with the most.

Second Harvest serves about 44,000 people a year across eight different counties in NE Minnesota and NW Wisconsin. They provide 5.8 million pounds of food, which makes about 4.7 million meals per year. They are the largest hunger-relief organization in the Northland and are part of Feeding America. You can learn more about the food bank by visiting their website. 

The first cause game will be Sept. 1 with the men’s and women’s golf teams. For a full list of the cause games for this upcoming year, visit their website.