Upper Iowa University Student-Athletes Bring Thanksgiving Joy to Local Victims of Violence

By Kelly Saathoff, Domestic Abuse Advocate for Fayette County

Upper Iowa University  student-athletes recently volunteered to make forty Thanksgiving baskets for our families served at the Domestic Abuse Resource Center. We were honored as the Assistant Athletic Director, Danielle Cushion approached us on putting this together. This is the second annual organizing of the baskets. Her passion for helping others and generosity continues to show during these amazing events she puts together.

During this event, the student-athletes put together food baskets which included: potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn, yams, biscuits, and a dessert. They separated the food into sections and worked together on doing this. It was such a wonderful experience to see so many student-athletes coming together to make these baskets for others.

Kathleen Davis, Domestic Abuse Resource Center director, and I were there to receive the food on behalf of the families served at Helping Services. Each basket was given to a family in hope to enlighten their Thanksgiving. Thank you to Upper Iowa University for its commitment to families in our community!