FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Giving back to the home team is not new for traveling Brigham Young University (BYU) fans.
Dane Kimber flew from Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday to cheer on his team, but also to give back to the people of Northwest Arkansas. He says "It's a fun tradition."
The giving started this morning at St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Fayetteville.
BYU's sponsoring institution, the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, donated 40,000 pounds of goods to the food bank.
The Fayetteville church's Director of Outreach and Community Engagement Monique Jones said, “It's exciting for me to see the community come together. And it was heartfelt to know that BYU is visiting and bearing gifts to show how they can serve our community as well.”
But the giving doesn't stop there. On Saturday, the BYU tailgate area is collecting more goods to give back to the food bank.
"I thought about bringing the food with us as extra luggage. But no, we're gonna head to Walmart. Since this is the headquarters of Walmart," Kimber adds.
BYU began this tradition back in 2019 at an away game in Tennessee where the local Cougar alumni group came together to donate coats.
Since then, they have donated to teams all across the country. For Kimber, it's part of his team's tradition and a way to show thanks to the hospitality in Fayetteville.
“I think the general attitude of the university is to pursue any philanthropic type of events that we can, and they tryto put those together for us when we're on the road.
BYU fans are inviting alumni, fans, and friends to its tailgate area before the game.
Fans are asked to bring nonperishable food, and if possible, they are specifically asked to bring food for the pantry's Marshallese patrons as those foods are often in high demand.
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