FRISCO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word student-athletes finished third in the league's second annual Southland Strong Community Service Award standings behind McNeese State University and Northwestern State.

The McNeese student-athletes have won the league's Southland Strong Community Service Award, which is awarded to the league school that records the most service hours during the academic year.  The award will be presented to McNeese during the Southland Honors Ceremony May 24 at the Frisco Westin Stonebriar Hotel.

McNeese completed 4,755 hours of community service for the academic year, which led the way out of all league schools by more than 750 hours. Northwestern State finished behind McNeese for the community service award followed by UIW with both institutions logging more than 4,000 and 3,300 hours of community service, respectively. Southeastern Louisiana, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin and Central Arkansas also contributed more than 2,000 service hours of work.

In only its second year, the "Southland Strong" Community Service initiative has gained steamed throughout the campuses, as more than 4,200 Southland student-athletes contributed more than 27,500 service hours to better the Southland communities, which almost doubles last year's mark of 14,000 hours.

The community service award was established to encourage and reward member institutions to give back to the community that supports them. Along with campus-wide events, the Southland promotes four annual league-wide drives with the TOMS Shoe Drive or Samaritan's Feet, which donates shoes to those in need, the Pull Tab Collection, which raises funds for the Ronald McDonald House at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Southland Gives Back event, which is a community service project in the local community leading up to winter break, and the Delete Blood Cancer Campaign, a bone marrow donor registration drive to help save lives of cancer patients.
####
pr16328smm