On Friday, Troy’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee donated soda tabs to the Charles Henderson High School National Honor Society to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charity.

The Ronald McDonald House Charity provides a place to stay for families whose children are hospitalized and receiving treatment.

Taylor Smartt, a Troy University softball player and representative of SAAC, said the SAAC has been collecting soda tabs for a while. “Last year, the SAAC collected soda tabs for the Sun Belt Conference,” Smartt said. “We decided to do it again this year. When we found out that Charles Henderson was also collecting soda tabs, we decided to partner with them.”

The SAAC’s function is to watch over student athletes and make sure they comply with NCAA rules. “Every college in the NCAA has to have an SAAC,” Smartt said. “Each team has a player on the council. We try to make sure that every player stays eligible to play.”

Smartt said it is important for student athletes to be involved in the community. “It’s important for us to be involved in the community,” Smartt said. “We donated canned goods to the high school for their food drive. We go in to classrooms sometimes and read to the kids or tutor them. As a college athlete, a lot of kids look up to us as role models. We want to make a good impact with our positions.”

Teyonna Johnson, president of the National Honor Society at Charles Henderson, explained why the school is collecting soda tabs. “The Ronald McDonald House Charity was chosen by the society as the charity we would raise funds for this year,” Johnson said. “We have two big fundraisers every year. One big part of National Honor Society is that we have to keep our grades up.”

Johnson said doing community service provides valuable experience to high school students. “Doing community services teaches you to appreciate what you have. I know that the SGA is doing a canned food drive right now. It is important to feed people in our own community.”

In total, the SAAC donated around 4 gallons of soda tabs to the school. The Ronald McDoanld House recycles the soda tabs to raise money to help offset the expenses of housing families.

The school will be collecting soda tabs until December. Citizens can drop off collected soda tabs at the main office of the high school.