By By Stephanie Daly, News Staff

A new philanthropic program from the Student-Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) aims to get Boston’s children off the couch and onto the playing field. Launched Feb. 12, the Husky Wish Gift will provide small grants to community organizations, teams and schools to promote youth involvement in sports and exercise.
The Husky Wish Gift provides grants funded by SAAC by allocating a certain amount of their budget and raising money through events like the Athlete Date Auction. This year they have raised about $4,000, which local organizations can apply for a piece of. Depending on the amount of money asked for and the number of applications, multiple small grants will be awarded. The grants will be given at an event held on campus in mid-April. SAAC members said they hope to continue the Husky Wish Gift by annually awarding such grants.
‘We wanted to find a way to give back to the community in a way that is different from other people but also meets a real need that the community has,’ said Missy Elumba, co-president of SAAC.
Elumba came up with the idea, and said she was inspired by a non-profit class she recently took as well as the new club, Northeastern Students for Giving. The program was formed based on the idea that it could be an educational opportunity for Northeastern students as well.
‘We hope that the student athletes can feel good about giving to their community and understand the importance of giving to their community,’ said Kelly Scafariello, assistant director of compliance and student athlete welfare and faculty adviser for SAAC.
The Husky Wish Gift is specifically aimed at promoting youth sports. The grants provide funding opportunities for jerseys, equipment, participation fees and program budgets.
‘Personally it’s because we, as athletes, we’re sticking with what we know, and we know that there’s a lot going on with childhood obesity and exercise is good to help with that,’ Elumba said. ‘Sports help kids develop and it gives kids a healthy outlet for activity that’s more constructive.’
SAAC co-president Kris Dabrowiecki, who finished his four years on the baseball team as the Huskies’ all-time leader in innings pitched and was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers this winter, said sports have had a big impact on his life and he wants to help other kids experience that.
‘There’s a lot of life lessons you can learn through sports and it’s good exercise,’ Dabrowiecki said. ‘We just want to give people the opportunity to get involved and better themselves.’
SAAC’s goals for the future of the Husky Wish Gift are to keep it going annually and to have it grow so it can help more people.
‘Basically we want to make it as big as possible,’ Debrokiecki said. ‘We just want to keep it going each year and make it a consistent thing and hopefully help a lot of people and create a relationship between NU athletics, the students in particular and groups in the Boston area.’
Elumba said she also hopes they can inspire other universities to get involved.
‘Every Division I school has a SAAC program,’ Elumba said. ‘So if other schools can emulate our program, it can help a lot of communities.’