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Yuma, Arizona -- Arizona Western College will host the 2^nd Annual Day of Champions this Saturday, August 12^th. 

The event will coordinate up to 20 different community involvement projects throughout the cities of Yuma, Somerton & Wellton, and will see over 120 AWC student-athletes, coaches and staff help build, clean, move & construct different projects.  In addition, this year, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Circle K, Outback Steakhouse & Southwest Gas have lent their assistance, time, and supplies to the cause.  The announcement was made this afternoon at a formal press conference at AWC Student Union’s Ocotillo Room. 

The ‘Day of Champions’ is an idea that was hatched last spring shortly after James Pryor was named as AWC Head Football Coach.  “Arizona Western College Athletics has a priority to give back to the community, and we felt that the Day of Champions is the perfect way to do that… every year, “said Pryor.  “There are also some underlying themes and concepts that we’re trying to instill in our student-athletes here at AWC that the Day of Champions also stands for:  leadership, volunteerism, citizenship, work ethic and learning to give back for what you’ve received.  This is all about doing the right thing, and we want the community that supports us to experience one way that we can support them.”  This Saturday, at least 120 members of the AWC Athletic Department-from student-athletes to coaches to staff-will leave the AWC campus at 7AM, bound for 16-20 different sites around Yuma County.  They will partner up with anywhere from 60 to 100 volunteers from Sam’s Club and the two Yuma-area Wal-Mart stores.  The volunteers will help out such community organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Crossroads Mission, Yuma Community Food Bank, Amberly’s Place, Salvation Army, Optimist Club, Saddles of Joy, The United Way of Yuma and the Yuma YMCA.  In addition to providing volunteers, Wal-Mart & Sam’s Club will provide a free breakfast for all of the volunteers prior to the event.  Circle K will provide drinks to the volunteers throughout the day at the various locations, and Southwest Gas will provide working gloves for the volunteers during the day.  The event will culminate at Outback Steakhouse in Yuma, where the volunteers will be fed a free lunch provided by the restaurant at approximately 2PM Saturday afternoon.  “The outpouring of support by Derek Gurney & Outback Steakhouse, Richard Forchione & Circle K, and Pat Abiles & Southwest Gas has just been tremendous,” remarked AWC Athletic Director Jerry Smith.  “Every single one of them just jumped at the chance to be part of this when we brought up the concept. We can’t thank all of these organizations enough.  Plus, for Wal-Mart & Sam’s Club to send their own people out to the sites to work is just incredible, and goes above and beyond anything we could expect.  (Store Managers) Frankie Ahumada, Kathy Perales and Bobette Young and their staffs have just been wonderful to work with.  The help of all of these people will make this Saturday a truly amazing day.”