Champions Club | 11/29/2021 4:00:00 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY – After missing last year due to the COVID pandemic, Oklahoma City University Athletics is proud to resume its annual can food drive to benefit Skyline and those they serve. 
 
OCU held its first food drive for Skyline in 2007 with 128,453 non-perishable food items being provided over that period. The Christmas food drive is a cornerstone of OCU's Stars Reaching Out program, which fosters servant leadership skills for student-athletes. 
 
Skyline, located at 500 SE 15th Street, has served downtown and all Oklahoma City neighborhoods for 50 years. It currently offers five programs to benefit those in need; an eye clinic, food resource center, garden program, style shop and wellness program. 
 
Skyline Director of Operations Brian Stevens says the food resource center is the most impactful program that the ministry supports with 100-150 individuals served on a daily basis. 
 
Since the food resource center does not limit distribution to clients by zip codes like most pantries do, it serves individuals and families throughout Oklahoma City. The food resource center is also unique due the fact that it is a client choice pantry, which allows people to choose for themselves what food products they want to receive. 
 
Stevens, a native Oklahoman who has worked for Skyline for six years, says that many factors have combined to make this a challenging time and therefore, Skyline is grateful for the assistance from OCU Athletics. 
  
"COVID has turned everything upside down," Stevens said. "Donations have gone down and food supplies have become scarce, which makes the OCU Athletics food drive that much more important. This food drive helps us get ahead on ordering food for at least a month and gives us food that sometimes we don't have for the patrons." 
  
OCU Athletics' final collection for the drive will be 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at the lobby of the Freede Center on the OCU campus. For more information on how to contribute to the food drive contact OCU Athletics administrative assistant Michelle Gebhardt at 405-208-5309 or mlgebhardt@okcu.edu.
 
Those interested in helping can also contact any of OCU's head coaches. The food drive is approached as a friendly competition between all athletic programs on campus. During the last drive in 2019, softball led the way with 2,582 foodstuffs collected while competitive cheerleading, pom/dance and STUNT combined for 1,452 food items.