Members of the D'Youville College men and women's basketball teams recently took time away from the court to help out local families in need of a Thanksgiving dinner this past week.

Over $250 of food was donated by the men and women of the D'Youville basketball programs as they raised funds to purchase the food by working Buffalo Bills concession stands this fall. All of the food goes to needy local families as part of the Thanksgiving drive, sponsored by Campus Ministry.

For the men, this is the sixth consecutive season in which the team has participated in such a worthy cause. Head coach Earl Schunk knows what it means to the local families for them to receive the food and how special it is that D'Youville can help out.

"It's important that we realize how fortunate we are here at D'Youville, especially at this time of year," said Schunk. "There are many families who are in need of assistance, and we are happy to do our part to help."

This time last year, the two teams, the D'Youville softball team, and the D'Youville Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) worked together to create nine boxes of food to be donated. The Boxes included turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and other various Thanksgiving related foods. Several canned good items purchased that went to help creating more boxes in addition to the nine boxes created.

In total, 65 boxes went to West Side Ministries, St. Peter and Paul in Hamburg Outreach Center, and 24 people in need in our college community.