Forget about needing nine lives. The Big South Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee needed only representatives from its nine league schools to take part in a community-service project for Habitat for Humanity International April 12 in High Point, North Carolina.

The project coincided with the SAAC's annual meeting this year at High Point University.

Student-athletes representing Birmingham-Southern College; Charleston Southern University; Coastal Carolina University; Elon University; High Point; Liberty University; the University of North Carolina, Asheville; Radford University; and Winthrop University took part.

Also involved in the project were members of the High Point campus SAAC, staff members from the Big South Conference office and members of Team Alltel, a group of volunteers from Alltel, a corporate sponsor for the conference.

Habitat, founded in 1976, is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide by bringing people and resources together to build simple, decent, affordable homes. The homes are sold at no profit through no-interest loans.

The group of about 45 volunteers assisted in assembling storage buildings to be used by future homeowners and prepared donated building materials slated for use in future homes. Student-athletes also worked to move materials from a warehouse to storage trailers near the home sites.

"It's great that our student-athletes can give back to their communities this way," said Big South Commissioner Kyle Kallander. "Habitat for Humanity has done great work for those in need and this is a wonderful opportunity for the Big South to assist them in the High Point community."

Jason Corriher, Big South assistant director of public relations, said the project accomplished its goal.

"The SAAC project at High Point gave us the opportunity to assist the Big South SAAC representatives in giving back to the community," he said. "It was certainly a rewarding experience to be able to be a part of that."

Shema Mbyirukira, a basketball student-athlete at Birmingham-Southern and a member of the Big South SAAC, said he, like other student-athletes, understands that without community support, he wouldn't be where he is today.

"In our own personal lives, we draw constantly on everyone from parents to neighbors for support, so working with groups like Habitat is our way of giving back a small portion of what we have been given," he said.

Mbyirukira also said that in addition to being able to help a family in need by giving of his time and energy, he also enjoyed the chance to build a sense of community with other students from other schools within the conference.

The event went so well that plans already are in motion for the Big South SAAC to continue working with Habitat during a future annual meeting.