Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis finish 4th in NCAA Division I for hours volunteered
05/21/2019 | 11:37:00 | General
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois athletics finished fourth in NCAA Division I for hours volunteered with a record-total of 5,366 during the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Helper Helper yearly report.
Helper Helper, a phone application used by more than 200 NCAA athletic departments, coordinates and tracks community service hours. The app allows student-athletes to sign in and validate attendance when volunteering on site.
Saluki student-athletes volunteered throughout the southern Illinois region during the fall and spring semesters. Top service spots included Unity Point Elementary School, Marion VA Medical Center, St. Francis CARE Animal Shelter and the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale.
According to the report, SIU had five teams that finished in the top-10 of their respective sports out of all of the D1 teams that participated.
Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams ranked first nationally with a combined 1,536 hours. Women's track & field and cross country came in seventh with 698 while men's track & field and cross country (456) and volleyball (408) were eighth.
Football led all sports at SIU with 1,018 hours of community service.
Through Helper Helper, 474,282 hours were volunteered by student-athletes during the 2018-19 school year and the outreach made a $12 million economic impact.
