The UNA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the NCAA Division II National SAAC’s first text donation campaign, which began Feb. 1 and will continue through March 10.

The texting campaign allows participants to make $5 donations by texting“D2Wishes” to 5055. The donation gets added to participants’ phone bills.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.

A Make-A-Wish sponsor since 2003, D-II has raised more than $2.4 million and has granted more than 338 wishes, according to the NCAA’s website.

The SAAC is a student organization consisting of two student athletes from each sport appointed by head coaches. The committee promotes and represents the interests and views of the student athletes and encourages members to get involved in community service projects.

“It’s really nice to be able to help out with Make-A-Wish Foundation and be able to help kids that are in need because I feel like, as student athletes, a lot of those kids look up to us,” said SAAC president Wes Long.

SAAC raises money every year for its Make-A-Wish campaign between September and May.

“We raise money by selling T-shirts, we sold car wash tickets one year and we had a change drive,” said Peggy Wingo, athletics administrative assistant. “SAAC tries to raise at least $3,000 a year.”

Along with its Make-A-Wish campaign, SAAC participates in community outreach by volunteering for the city of Florence. SAAC has also taken part in the “Lions’ Birthday Party” held in April and hosted “Movie Night with the Lions” in December, where members collected toys for Toys for Tots.