Ahead of the Quick Lane Bowl Tuesday in Detroit, the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Bowling Green Falcons competed off the field to make a difference in the community.
The teams volunteered Saturday at Gleaners Community Food Bank in Taylor.
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“We want to impact the people and the environment whether it’s in Minnesota or whether it’s here in Detroit, we want to leave our mark where we’re at,” said Gopher defensive lineman Jalen Logan-Redding.
The Quick Lane Bowl started in Detroit in 2014 and volunteering at Gleaners Community Food Bank has been a tradition from the start.
Over the last 9 years participating teams have packaged more than 245,000 pounds of food, according to Gleaners.
“To have people come outside of our community to say how important it is to take care of families and children and seniors who are making tough decisions who may be looking at empty cupboards,” Gleaners spokesperson Kristin Sokul said.
This year’s task was packaging potatoes for Gleaners’ drive thru no contact service.
The Gophers packaged as much food as they could Saturday morning and the Falcons did the same in the afternoon.
It gets competitive, but it’s all for a good cause.
“It is a large group, but we have a lot of work to do. And it’s only through partnerships like this, volunteers make our work lighter and easier. It’s how we can be efficient and effective,” Sokul said.
The team that wins this friendly competition often wins the bowl game.
Results have not been released.
The bowl game kicks off Tuesday afternoon at Ford Field.