The past two years, Cal running backs Patrick Laird and Marcel Dancy were surprised with their Allstate AFCA Good Works Team honors while out serving the community (Laird while talking to Willard Middle School students about reading, Dancy while coaching the Oakland Dynamites youth football team). It was a little bit less dramatic for defensive back Elijah Hicks.

"It was an early text message from Kyle (McRae, Cal associate AD for athletics communications in football and lacrosse)," Hicks noted, "right now, I'm just on Twitter, trying to limit my social media time so I can get away for a little bit."

It's a different world right now than the one Laird and Dancy received their honors in. A global pandemic has limited the in-person interactions that spurred on Laird and Dancy's service to their community, while the pandemic spurred on Hicks' work with the community. The senior defensive back from Long Beach worked with No Kid Hungry, raising over $60,000 as a part of an effort to feed children from low-income families at a time when lifelines fell by the wayside.

"I got involved with No Kid Hungry because at the beginning of the pandemic, I was talking to my dad about ways to help people," Hicks said. "I have a lot of siblings, 10 siblings, quite a few of them are in elementary school, they were relying on free or reduced lunch. Because of the pandemic, they were no longer able to get those things, so I wanted to create something to help low-income families during this time. With the help of Ashtyn Davis, he helped me find No Kid Hungry, I contacted them and was going back and forth about my mission, how I wanted to help people, and it aligned with what they were doing. They had some fine people over there to help set up the fundraising platform, and we hit the ground running."

The work with No Kid Hungry was a natural progression for Hicks, who started a non-profit, Intercept Poverty, in order to help with issues faced by low-income college students.

"That's something to help college students so they can focus on their school instead of worry about their financial needs or where they're going to get food from," Hicks said. "Currently, I'm in the process of working with Scholarship America to raise funds and set up an emergency fund, we're going to hit the road running next semester, we're currently in the works of helping college students and helping people in need when we see the opportunity."

In working with Scholarship America, Hicks' Intercept Poverty Foundation is looking to raise $40,000 to provide those emergency funds for low-income students. It's something that takes up a significant proportion of Hicks' time these days, as he takes a full-load of classes and is working out in Cal's voluntary workouts. He's learning more and more about how he can make the kind of impact that he wants to moving forward in his career.

"It's not like you know how to do these things," Hicks noted, "I have to learn and understand the terminology that these groups use. When I'm talking to No Kid Hungry, I have to have these conversations through email, and I have to learn through a lot of trial and error through this. I haven't done any of this before, and as I learn, I'm really doing this on my own with Intercept Poverty. I have good advisors and professors and people who I talk to to help me, which I'm thankful for. But it's a lot of time, and I like that, because I want to learn these things and understand these things, because once I am in the NFL, I'd still like to be hands on, I'd like to do these things."

That will continue throughout the football season, as Hicks has previously volunteered at the UC Berkeley Basic Needs Center, enlisting teammates to volunteer with him at the beginning of the pandemic. He knows that he'll be able to have the support of his teammates going forward as well.

"I like to drag my guys along to stuff, we've got a good culture at Cal," Hicks said, "we've got good guys in the locker room. I pretty much know I'm gonna get a yes, that's just the type of people that they are. And Ashtyn, being a fellow DB, he's interested in these types of things, Ashtyn helped me with the logo (for Intercept Poverty) as well, Ashtyn is really helpful in this whole process, he volunteered to help with me at the food pantry as well."

As far as the football side of things goes, Hicks is looking forward to a senior season that could potentially still take place this fall, as he'll play at safety and wherever he's needed moving forward. Hicks has played in all 38 games since coming to Cal, starting 30 at cornerback, and with the Pac-12's announced partnership with Quidel Corp for daily testing, he feels it's safe enough to do so.

"I'm going to play all over the defense," Hicks said, "I'm going to show all my skillsets in the secondary. With the rapid testing that's now available that we should be seeing at the end of September, we should be able to start playing and get to practicing and maybe play some football, especially if it's safe to do so. I'm more comfortable now that we have the rapid testing available."

For now, the Bears are going to continue their workouts until given the go-ahead by public health officials to conduct practice.

"We're working out in groups of twelve, we're socially distanced," Hicks said, "we're using our own equipment that they have set up for us, we're hand sanitizing constantly, they come and spray down the equipment before the next group comes, I'm really thankful and proud of how Cal has handled this situation, it makes me feel safe to go work out."

Until a decision is made on when and how to restart Pac-12 football, Hicks will continue work with Intercept Poverty, as his service to the community is a boon for everyone around him.

"Elijah is a tremendous representative of our football program and university," head coach Justin Wilcox said. "He has a passion for giving back and helping those who are less fortunate. Elijah has made a huge difference by doing so, and I truly believe he is just getting started. He is very deserving of this honor, and it's very satisfying that his good works are being recognized with a spot on this prestigious team."