With hopes of contributing more to the community than conference championships, the UH Athletics Department joined efforts with the Star of Hope Mission to give students a chance to help those less fortunate in the surrounding community this coming semester.
UH Athletics kicked off a partnership with the Star of Hope in June with a food drive at the tailgating pavilions at Robertson Stadium. Student athletes and coaches -†from football to volleyball -†came together to feed nearly 100 homeless women and children.
"Star of Hope is an organization that we want to be involved in with our outreach program. The outreach program that we have is going out to the community doing charitable things for people that need help," UH Athletics Director Dave Maggard said.
The organization’s mission is to feed homeless men, women and children as there are 14,000 homeless people in Houston. The Star of Hope reaches out to nearly 7,000 people daily, offering recovery, food and shelter for the less fortunate.
"We take care of about almost half of the homeless people in Houston on a daily basis," Scott Arthur, director of public relations, said. "It’s something you can’t ignore; people have to eat three times a day and you have to feed the body to feed the soul."
For UH head football coach Art Briles, working with the Star of Hope has been a tremendous experience.
"It’s always fun to get around people and to feel that your doing something that’s just worthwhile," Briles said. "The last one we had was very uplifting and we’re looking forward to the next few ones we have coming up."
Maggard believes the partnership with Star of Hope will continue to flourish with student support.
"We’re going to continue to be involved," Maggard said. "Some of our things are going to be planned as we go along, we will be involved with them through the fall and probably much longer than that."
The Star of Hope has scheduled future events with UH athletics, which include a homecoming promotion and food drive.
"We have so many folks who are hungry, and we provide three meals a day, every day, 365 days a year," Arthur said. "So, by the donation drive it will probably help us because it will put us a little bit more ahead and let us fill our pantries so we don’t have to actually take money out of other sources and use it to buy food. And we can use that money for our shelter and recovery programs."
As part of the Athletics Department’s "Thanks for Giving" campaign, a 53-foot truck will be stationed in front of Robertson Stadium during the first five games. Collected donations will be presented to the Star of Hope during the UH homecoming game against Marshall on Nov. 17.
"For the first five games of the season we’re going to have a truck set up in the tailgating area of the Robertson Stadium," Lee Deleon, UH director of marketing for the Athletics Center, said. "We’re going to ask (students) to bring non-perishable food items."
Students can also make donations at any Smart Financial Credit Union locations, or at Cougar Authentic, located on the first floor of the Athletic/Alumni Center.
Spectators at each Cougar home game who donate at least five non-perishable food items will receive a voucher for $8 off any reserved adult ticket toward home football games or $5 off a youth ticket. The voucher is good for any home football games except those against Rice.
Fans can also receive $5 off any reserved adult ticket toward men’s basketball home games (excluding Kentucky) in November or December. The voucher is good for $5 off any purchase of $20 or more at Cougar Authentic gift shop as well.
