CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois student-athletes continued to give back to the community as they participated in several community oriented projects in the past month. During the month of March Panther student-athletes were instrumental in collecting food for the Charleston Food Bank, reading to students at Carl Sandburg Elementary and helping to send four U.S. Military Veterans to the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Tournament.

Student-Athlete Advisory Committees from the eleven OVC schools helped provide an opportunity for veterans in their community to attend the 2011 OVC Tournament played on March 2-5 in Nashville, Tenn. The SAAC at each school raised money to send veterans to the tournament with left over funds being donated to the Wounded Warriors Project. The drive was led by current SAAC president Alex Zwettler.

A total of 19 veterans were honored including four from Eastern Illinois. The EIU veterans included Nicholas Anson, Rob Flores, John Mefford and Michael Ruybal. Altogether the men and women honors served torus in Vietnam, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The honors they earned for their service include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Action Badge and the Flying Cross.

In mid-March the EIU football team collected and delivered food to the Charleston Food Pantry. The team collected 345 non-perishable food items with the drive led by offensive lineman Mike Garrity. The food drive was part of the Panthers off-season team building competition which focuses on several team oriented tasks. The 345 food items amounted to more than 200 pounds of food.

On March 10 the EIU women's basketball team spent part of the day reading to elementary school children at Carl Sandburg Elementary in Charleston. The event allowed members of the women's team to interact with area kids between grades one and three.