Wanting to give back to the communities they visited for sporting events, Cougs Care was established about three years ago by BYU Alumni.
The BYU Alumni website states Cougs Care is run by local chapters from all over the U.S. to aid a variety of causes for those in need.
Curtis Isaak, senior manager of Events & Experience for BYU Alumni Relations oversees many of the Cougs Care Tailgates.
“We want to elevate the experience for the participants (who were at the tailgates)," Isaak said.
Isaak spoke of how he worked with local alumni chapters in the places BYU away games were going to take place. He organized things and the local chapters helped provide volunteers for the tailgate.
Yet it all had to begin somewhere. Isaak remarked how, “Other universities tailgates are around the food and drinking. That’s mainly what it is. And of course, we’re a little bit different … ours is more of a family event.”
“Wherever we go we have huge BYU crowds at all the games because our alumni live all over,” Isaak said.
Some of the volunteers at the time came up with the idea to add a service project aspect.
Isaak said the first major tailgate where this was put into action was when BYU played Georgia Southern University.
The participants of the tailgate decided to collect items for the local food bank.
“It got a lot of really good press … these people out in Georgia they knew nothing about us, but now they do ... and they were just really gracious,” Isaak said.
They then did it again in Baylor.
“The TV stations are like, ‘Wait, they’re coming here and doing a service project?’” Isaak said. That was when they decided to continue their acts of kindness at every tailgate, resulting in the birth of Cougs Care.
Nowadays, BYU alumni continue the tradition of community service at each away game they attend. Cougs Care works with the local JustServe to provide identify the needs of the community.
A project from last year came from an idea of a chapter member who is part of the Native American community. She wished to collect books for the Native American student services in the area, that were written by Native American authors and about Native American themes. So, an Amazon wish list was created, and during that tailgate, Cougs Care was able to collect over 2,000 books. “We’ve now got lifelong friends there.”
“We’ve … built bridges between BYU, BYU Alumni, the Church, and the local members, with community organizations, with the community,” Isaak said.
BYU students can help continue to build these bridges during their years attending BYU.
Olivia Zastrow, a current BYU student who was interviewed about Cougs Care, was asked why it might be important to build bridges with other universities.
“I think it’s just good to get our morals and values out there for everyone to see,” she said.
BYU students are able to help by simply going to the BYU Alumni website, clicking on the tailgate tile, and reading about each individual tailgate and finding more about the Cougs Care project.
Students can also sign up for emails from Cougs Care to know what the upcoming service projects are, so if they choose to attend these away games they can stop by a local store and pick up items and donate it at the tailgate.
To BYU students, Isaak extended an invitation to get involved.
“You’re a student for four-plus years, but you’re an alum for life, so once you leave, stay involved … cause that’s what we do, go forth to serve,” Isaak said.