The race is heating up throughout the ten Big West college campuses as each school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) scrambles to collect spare change for charity. The sixth annual Big West Coin Drive wraps up in one week with University of Hawai'i student-athletes having raised more than $2,000 thus far in the month of February.
 
UH is raising funds for the UH Relay for Life, which benefits the Hawai'i-Pacific
Chapter of the American Cancer Society. UH student athletes will be at various UH athletics events this weekend to continue its goal of $5,000 raised.  Each Big West school will donate three-quarters of its collection to its charity and the other 25 percent to the winning institution's charity.
 
Both a friendly competition between Big West schools as well as a serious effort to save lives, UH's coin drive also promotes a bond between UH student-athletes and community members in the fight against cancer. Donations will go towards cancer patient services in Hawai'i and the Pacific, include lodging, transportation, wigs, research, education, support groups, and summer camps for kids with cancer.
 
Gather the spare change from your couch cushions, pockets and the bottom of your purse and bring it to the baseball and men's basketball games this week.  Student-athletes will be present with purple Relay for Life collection buckets gathering coins while mingling with fans, answering questions and promoting the  UH Athletics Department.
 
Tax-deductible donations may also be made online and will count toward the UH student-athlete charity coin drive total if made by Feb. 28.