Yes We Can
A week before Thanksgiving, California Baptist University Athletics teamed up to brighten the holidays of community families and children with their fifth annual canned food drive.
The Lancers collected a record 6,383 cans to be donated to A Foundation for Kids, a nonprofit organization based in Riverside. The charity is dedicated to supporting children’s agencies and youth organizations that serve abused and at-risk children in Southern California, with a focus on Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County and Los Angeles. On average, each CBU athlete donated 14.5 cans with each program competing for top honors.
“I am very proud of our athletes for coming together for the community,” CBU Director of Athletics Dr. Micah Parker said. “It is always great to see them rally around a good cause, and it’s even more special when they are doing so in record fashion.”
With the record-setting output, CBU collected more than 1,000 cans than it did from 2013, which fell right under the 5,000 mark.
CBU cheer won the competition between the Lancer programs for highest average of cans donated per athlete with a whopping 45 resulting in 2,264 total cans to earn bragging rights on the women’s side for the third year in a row. Swim/dive and soccer took second and third, respectively, among the women. Men’s volleyball was victorious on the other end, with the team averaging 28 cans per person for a total of 533 cans. Baseball and golf took second and third, respectively, for the Lancer men.
“This is always a really fun event,” Parker said. “Hopefully, we keep on setting new records.”