Feb. 4, 2004

College basketball games: athletes, excited fans, food, and giving hearts.

On February 4, 2004 USC students from many different student organizations, the Carolina Chaplains Association, the USC Athletic Department, and Team Gamecocks are teaming up to help collect canned goods for local charities. These college students are giving up their time to stand at the doors and collect canned goods from everyone in the crowd attending the 7:30 p.m. USC men’s basketball game against Alabama. Organizers are anticipating about 30 studens will give their time to participate in their own version of the Souper Bowl of Caring for those who are less fortunate here in our community.

The game plan is simple. College students are going to ask each person going to the game to donate canned goods as they enter the Colonial Center. All of the canned goods donated will be given directly to Harvest Hope Food Bank.

The USC Souper Bowl of Caring is a recognized part of the Souper Bowl of Caring, a local effort that has become national. In 1990, 22 Columbia churches joined together to help those less fortunate. In 1993, the effort became national and now includes over 10,500 congregations representing 40 denominations. Today’s Souper Bowl of Caring takes place in churches in all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The USC groups participating, along with the USC Athletic Department, in the Sixth Annual Souper of Caring are: Team Gamecocks, Carolina Chaplains Association, Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, St. Thomas Moore Catholic Student Center, Partnership Among Lutherns and Methodists (PALM), Presbyterian Student Association, and Impact Campus Ministry (The Shack).

For more information about the USC Souper Bowl of Caring, please contact the Reverend John Cook, Presbyterian Campus Minister, Presbyterian Student Association, at (803)799-0212.