ARLINGTON, Texas -- A pillar of UT Arlington's athletics mission is to serve the community.

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, an award-winning group of Mavericks who help lead UTA's public service initiatives in the North Texas region, is a prime example of UTA's commitment towards building well-rounded future leaders in the community.

The constant dedication towards creating versatile and servant leaders amongst UTA's student-athletes is a key element in UTA President Vistasp Karbhari and Athletics Director Jim Baker core principles in building the athletics and university community.

UTA's SAAC group are the two-time winners of the Sun Belt Conference Community Service Initiative and are poised to win the award for the third consecutive year.

During November of 2017, the SAAC led an athletics-department wide initiative, dubbed "Stomp-Out Hunger", that had a profound impact on those in need in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the holiday season.

In an effort to bring awareness to hunger in the area, the SAAC worked to raise funds, organized a canned food drive, prepared meals and packaged meal boxes for youth, and provided meals for patients and families at the Cook Children's Hospital.

Over 5,000 canned goods were collected, nearly 8,000 meals were prepared with the Pack Shack Party for Mission Arlington, and local community volunteers joined hands with the Mavs to prepare over 5,000 boxed meals for the Children's Hunger Fund.

Student-Athletes, donned in their Mavericks uniforms, delivered meals, and joy, to the Cook Children's Hospital and worked to provide patients and family members home-cooked options during the holiday season. On Thanksgiving day, UTA's athletes joined volunteers at Mission Arlington to pass out turkeys.

"The Stomp-Out Hunger initiative is a great example of the type of leadership we have among our student-athletes," Baker said. "We want to build future leaders in our community who are eager to give back to those in need. The selfless and tireless work of our athletes during the holiday season is inspiring to all those at UTA."

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