Building off of last year's renewed commitment to serving its community, Fresno Pacific Athletics reached new heights in 2013-14, setting an all-time high for volunteer service hours and becoming co-winners of the PacWest Community Engagement Award, given annually to the institution that best served its community during the academic year.

"I want to congratulate all of our member schools because this was the first year that all 13 institutions submitted nominations for this important award," said PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue. "The crowded field made it especially challenging for our review committee. Ultimately, the efforts by Fresno Pacific and Notre Dame de Namur stood out, and they are extremely deserving of this recognition."

FPU student-athletes and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) volunteered a grand total of 3,150 combined hours of community service and community engagement during the 2013-14 season. This included 2,228 hours of community service outreach as well as an additional 922 hours from community engagement events that brought groups to campus.

Each team participated in multiple community service and community engagement activities. This included:

Baseball
*Volunteered weekly in a special education classroom at a local high school.
 
Men's Basketball
*Hosted North Star Family Center community engagement event. Invited foster children and their families on campus for home basketball doubleheader with the children getting to have dinner with the student-athletes before the games.
*Visited middle school classrooms to talk about the importance of education
 
Women's Basketball
*Assisted with the KYJO BBQ Cook-Off, a fundraising event for a non-profit organization focused on helping at-risk youth succeed.
*Hosted North Star Family Center community engagement event. Invited foster children and their families on campus for home basketball doubleheader with the children getting to have dinner with the student-athletes before the games.
*Participated in e-mentoring, providing support for students in the Fresno school district.
 
Men's Soccer
*Assisted the set up and tear down of FPU's MCC relief sale, an event that brings between five and eight thousand people on campus each year to raise money for missions overseas.
*"Adopted" a local park and helped improve conditions for use by the Fresno community
*While at the NCCAA Championships, the men's soccer team prepared thousands of meals to be distributed to the hungry in the Orlando area.
 
Women's Soccer
*Sold newspapers for "Kids Day" to raise money for Valley Children's Hospital
*Volunteered at a local elementary school, reading to kids.
*Put on soccer clinics for local youth
*Assisted with FPU's MCC relief sale, an event that brings between five and eight thousand people on campus each year to raise money for missions overseas.
 
Men's & Women's Swimming
*Partnered with Fresno Community Food Bank to package food for the hungry
*"Adopted" a local park and helped improve conditions for use by the Fresno community
 
Men's & Women's Tennis
*Hosted an on-campus "Kids Day", through a partnership with ITA event planning
*Put on a tennis clinic for local youth in Selma
*Participated in "Break the Barriers", running games and activities for inner-city youth.
 
Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track & Field
*Partnered with Fresno Community Food Bank to package food for the hungry
*"Adopted" a local park and helped improve conditions for use by the Fresno community
*Assisted with FPU's MCC relief sale, an event that brings between five and eight thousand people on campus each year to raise money for missions overseas.
*Spent time packing supplies for medical ministries
 
Women's Volleyball
*Volunteered at a local elementary school to read to children
*Took part in Butler Church food distribution for families in Southeast Fresno
*Assisted with FPU's MCC relief sale, an event that brings between five and eight thousand people on campus each year to raise money for missions overseas.
 
Men's & Women's Water Polo
*Ran a Saturday "sports day" for kids at a local elementary school
*Assisted with FPU's MCC relief sale, an event that brings between five and eight thousand people on campus each year to raise money for missions overseas.
*Took part in Butler Church food distribution for families in Southeast Fresno
 
There were also a number of projects that were a collaborative effort between teams. This included:

Sunbird Sports Day
*FPU SAAC hosted the first ever "Sunbird Sports Day" bringing 100 children from the surrounding community to the FPU campus to share in a fun-filled afternoon of games and activities. Local kids participated in soccer, volleyball, obstacle courses and Zumba along side of our student-athletes to help raise awareness of the importance of leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

Make-A-Wish Foundation
Fresno Pacific continues to contribute to the NCAA Division II's fundraising efforts for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. During the 2013-14 season the FPU SAAC raised $4,700, second in the PacWest, through various campaigns.

FPU hosted events in October as part of the NCAA Division II's "Week of Wishes" campaign at soccer and volleyball games. Events included half-time contests at soccer (penalty kick shootout) and "serve for pizza" at volleyball. All proceeds including game admission went to the Make-A-Wish fundraiser.

Later in the year FPU SAAC held "Swishes For Wishes" events at FPU men's & women's basketball games. The group also hosted Make-A-Wish fundraiser events at Baseball Alumni Orange Out Night and Women's Water Polo's first ever home game vs. nationally-ranked Stanford.

The SAAC also hosted a 'Penny Wars' event on campus. The entire campus population competed against each other with different areas of campus, including FPU's branch campuses from throughout Central California, contributing to the cause. Funds were also collected at numerous home events, as FPU student-athletes encouraged the community to make a difference as well.

Community Food Bank
The SAAC hosted food drives for the local Community Food Bank in the months of September and November during multiple soccer, volleyball and basketball games, where attendees of the game were encouraged to donate non-perishable food items to gain admission to the events. More than 100 pounds of food were collected and distributed to families in need throughout the Fresno area.

Toys For Tots
FPU student-athletes worked in partnership with the United Way of Fresno County and the U.S. Marine Corps to collect toys for the Toys for Tots Foundation. Over 100 toys were collected by FPU's SAAC during the December 7 basketball games against Dixie State. This contributed and drew awareness to the United Way of Fresno County, which was able to give out more than 85,000 new toys to children from throughout the Valley during the Christmas season.
 
Additional work by SAAC
*Sent representatives as guest speakers to FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meetings at local high schools.
*Planned new Student-Athlete Day event to celebrate FPU student-athletes in conjunction with national student-athlete day.