WESTERVILLE, OHIO—Admission to the 31st-annual Otterbein University Smokey Ballenger Classic will be free of charge with a donation of a food or personal product item for the Westerville Area Resource Ministry’s (WARM) food pantry. Cash donations will also be accepted for Coaches vs. Cancer. 

Opening-round women’s pairings Dec. 28 feature Capital University and Albion College at 1 p.m. with Otterbein taking on Carnegie Mellon University at 6 p.m. Men’s action gets underway at 3 p.m. when Ohio Wesleyan University plays Maryville College. Otterbein hosts Saint Vincent College at 8 p.m. to close out the first day of competition. 

Women’s pairings for Dec. 29 feature Capital and Carnegie Mellon at 1 p.m., and Otterbein and Albion at 6 p.m. On the men’s side, the consolation game is scheduled for 3 p.m. with the championship game slated to begin at 8 p.m. 

WARM is seeking particular items this year, including peanut butter, fruit juices, canned fruit, canned meat, pancake mix, syrup, spaghetti sauce, tomato products, hot cereal, cold cereal, bleach, condiments, beef stew, feminine products, cleaning products, canned beets, canned carrots, flour, side dishes like Hamburger Helper, canned spinach, tuna, all canned soups, crackers, sugar, Q-tips, women’s deodorant, cotton balls, band aids, and facial tissue.

Otterbein has collected an estimated 13,000 pounds of food for WARM since beginning the food drive in 1999.