Student-Athletes Spearhead Successful Coat Drive

More than 80 coats were collected.

The University of Hartford Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) held its annual winter coat drive collection earlier this month, collecting 86 coats for the Button Up Connecticut coat drive.

Members of SAAC provided an information card and white bag to fans as they left the women’s basketball game versus Marist, urging those in attendance to clean out their closets and bring their gently used coats to the next game against Dartmouth.

“I think that the coat drive was a huge success and exceeded our expectations,” said women’s soccer player Caitlin Alves. “The fact that there will be 86 warmer people this winter from our efforts is a great feeling.”

The collection proved to be one of the largest collections that SAAC has had over the past few years. Members of SAAC delivered the coats to Siracusa Moving & Storage in New Britain as part of the Button Up Connecticut drive.

Button Up Connecticut collects gently used coats at more than 250 locations throughout the state for those in need.

The members of SAAC who spearheaded this year’s coat drive were Luke Citriniti (men’s soccer), Lauren Brodeur (women’s soccer), Simon Kudernatsch (baseball), Caitlin Alves (women’s soccer) and Siera Sheehan (softball).