Team to volunteer at canned food drive

With two games coming up Sunday afternoon, the IU women's soccer team has been working hard to showcase their skills to the community that continually supports them.\nSaturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank the team will be reciprocating this form of support when it volunteers at Hoosier Hills Food Bank. Last weekend, the team prepared hundreds of empty bags and had the Bloomington Herald-Times distribute them to homes, organizations, businesses and other locations around Bloomington in their newspaper.\nThis week the soccer team will pick up those filled bags and bring them back to Hoosier Hills Food Bank. There, Hoosier Hills Assistant Director Dan Taylor said soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters in Monroe County will distribute the food to impoverished members of the Bloomington Community. This weekend is an especially important one, as Hoosier Hills has a wide array of volunteers helping its annual Life of Bloomington volunteer event, which occurs every spring.\nOn average, a food pick-up includes an average of 9,000 pounds of food. Taylor estimated that the team can go beyond that and reach close to 12,000 pounds of food. While that type of increase might intimidate some volunteers, sophomore forward Lindsay McCarthy relishes the opportunity.\n"We are all very competitive," McCarthy said. "It is good to have that in mind when we drive around."\nA total of 16 players will volunteer Saturday. Many of the players say they feel Saturday is a good opportunity to help out the community in a visible way and to meet the people who donate the food.\n"It is nice to see us tangibly help out the community and to see where our work is going," said junior center-midfielder Ali Brown.\nAs a result of this work, Taylor said the team can not only get the satisfaction of helping others in the community by participating in such a project, but it can also become more knowledgeable about problems within the Bloomington area and become stronger as a team.\n"It helps them learn about all of the social-service agencies out there. I also hope it helps them become a better team," Taylor said. \nErika Flanders, one of two assistant coaches on the team and the one who originally contacted Hoosier Hills Food Bank about the Hoosiers' possible involvement with the program echoed Taylor's sentiments.\n"When they do activities like these, they come together to form a common goal. It strengthens our team," Flanders said.\nAs they make their final preparation for Saturday, the team members hope they can show they have a lot to offer the Bloomington community beyond academics and athletics.\n"We want to show that we are quality people who want to help out the community, not just quality athletes," Brown said. \nFor more information about the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and its programs visit www.hhfoodbank.org/.