For UW Madison's football team, the word \drive"" is usually preceded with the word ""touchdown."" However, for the next month, the Badgers will also attach a prefix-food.
Teaming up with the Community Action Coalition For South Central Wisconsin, the Badgers are leading a city-wide food drive. Beginning Sept. 15 and continuing for the next month, the ""Yes, We Can!"" campaign will encourage Madison elementary school students to donate canned goods and other non-perishable food items to help stock area food banks.
Senior wide receiver Jonathan Orr noted that the early-autumn timing of the campaign is part of what makes it important.
""Around the holiday season is when there is a large input of goods,"" said Orr, who is leading the campaign. ""But there's a shortage other times of the year.""
Orr said the idea was an offshoot of a conversation he had with Justin Doherty, UW athletics communications director, during the summer. Orr had ideas for a reality show involving the Badgers, but when Doherty suggested that a service project might get the community more involved and be more beneficial, Orr developed the food-drive idea.
Bins will be placed in the city's elementary schools to collect donations. Doherty said working with the schools, as opposed to a game-day collection outside Camp Randall stadium, allows the team to have a more positive influence on children.
""The elementary schools are a place where they can get the message across to younger kids about getting involved in the community,"" Doherty said. ""Athletes are people sometimes that kids look up to.""
Another Badger leading the campaign is junior tight end Joel Nellis, a Madison native. Nellis said that when the food drive is completed, members of the team will visit the schools that donate the most and speak to the children about the importance of being active in the community.
""Not everyone has food all the time,"" Nellis said. ""I've been in Madison my whole life, and as a kid growing up, it's not something you even think about.""
Both Orr and Nellis said that with the city taking in some of the evacuees from New Orleans, the timing of the ""Yes, We Can!"" campaign has taken on added importance.
""There are a lot of people out there who need food,"" Nellis said. ""In a time when everyone is giving, it doesn't hurt to give a little more.\
