An instantaneous smile lit up Natalie Alvarado's face as MSU men's basketball senior guard Chris Hill plopped candy into the 7-year-old's hand.

Not only did Alvarado, who was dressed as a Spartans cheerleader, get another piece of candy to add to her growing collection, but she met an MSU athlete.

For Hill, however, the opportunity to be out in the community trick-or-treating with children was much more rewarding.

Decked out in Halloween costumes, about 300 children, including Alvarado, paraded through the Okemos Toys 'R' Us, 1705 Newman Road, gathering trinkets and candy from a variety of MSU student athletes. The children gathered for a Halloween extravaganza, sponsored by the Toys 'R' Us in partnership with the Children's Miracle Network through Lansing's Sparrow Hospital. The store opened up for children who are living with cancer and their siblings for a night of fun by trick-or-treating, eating their favorite foods and making different seasonal crafts.

Student athletes from MSU's men's golf team, ice hockey team and the entire men's basketball team took part in this event.

It's just one of many events MSU student athletes are available to participate in for the year-old Putting Athletes and Community Together, or PACT, program. About a decade ago, organizations such as the Children's Miracle Network might have not known about the availability for student athletes to get involved.

"It is about the little kids and it is so fun to see their little costumes," Hill said at the event in late October, adding that he was waiting to see a Shrek costume. "It is so fun to see the looks on their faces and see how excited they are because they wouldn't normally have this opportunity to do this."

Today, PACT is part of the MSU chapter of NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program at MSU which coordinates all athletic community service.

"We wanted to work with all the hospitals and work with all the schools," said Angela Howard, MSU's associate director for Life Skills. "That is when we came out with putting athletes and community together. It's not just with children, now we do more than that, we do things with the whole community - we work with adults with brain injuries, we do a food drive."

CHAMP/Life Skills started at MSU in 1997 when it became more organized, licensed and coordinated. Before this time, requests for service went straight to the teams, not through a middle, coordinating source.

PACT was developed to help refocus and reorganize athletic service efforts, hoping to make it understood by the university community and public.

"It's not just the MSU community, it is the whole surrounding community," Howard said. "And it is not just children, it is all the people in our community."

Hill said he has been participating in outreach programs throughout his college career, and said he was glad that he and his teammates came out on their night off to support the children.

"A lot of these kids look up to us professionally with the games on TV," Hill said. "It means a lot when we are able to come out. Just the fact that it kind of makes their day, that if someone is sick, maybe they can feel a little bit better for the time - that is so much more important than just playing basketball."

The children's parents appreciate having these student athletes taking time out of their busy schedules.

"It is fabulous," said Natalie Alvarado's mother, Stephanie, who walked through the activities with her daughter. "It is nice that the younger kids get to see the players."

She said these student athletes are no strangers to her and her daughter, who has seen them a lot at the hospital and other special events. She said MSU "really supports our kids."

MSU men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo also attended the event. As a coach, Izzo said these events are important and crucial to the lives of the student athletes.

"There is so many awesome things you can get out of this," Izzo said. "Sometimes when you are an athlete, it is a lot of hard work, but sometimes it is Disney World and everyone is admiring you. And you can lose appreciation for the real world, and the real world is this.

"It is great for our kids to spent time with these kids and these kids to spend time with us."

Izzo said he enjoyed sitting back and watching his players interact with the children and parents. He said it helps himself appreciate what some younger children go through because it puts the hard times athletes go through in perspective, compared to what some of the children go through.

"Sometimes we'll do this for the selfish reasons, the selfish reason being that I will feel better about myself, they'll feel better about the world, but there is nothing better about helping someone else," Izzo said.

At the helm of the PACT program, Howard runs the day-to-day requests coordinating the different events. The new acronym was created last year, as a campaign to encompass all of MSU's different community-service efforts.

Years before, when an organizer of an event would call the university looking for an athlete to participate, only a handful of student athletes of the bigger revenue sports would be contacted. But today, with more than 60 events a year, more than 300 athletes are going out into the community, trying to a make a difference.

Howard said this year, more than ever before, there has been a huge interest from student athletes who want to get involved with the program in some way.

MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason said this program is beneficial to the school's athletic program.

"When student athletes have the opportunity to go into the community and the schools or hospitals or at events, it shows the interest that our department as a whole is embracing the community, not only as fans but as people," Mason said. "As a whole, our people that come to see us play on the field and on the court, that is all they see."

Hill said he has realized the importance of reaching out into the community in his athletic career and wants to emphasize to his fellow teammates the importance and impact these opportunities can bring to life. He said he hopes to take some of the freshmen and younger players along to the hospitals soon, another place Hill does outreach.

"I have had the opportunity to do quite a few things," Hill said. "The more I do it, the more I realize (basketball) is just a sport, just a game, and there are children and people with really hard lives and I think you lose sight of that sometimes.

"There is really nothing better we could be doing with our time than helping out people, this is the perfect chance to get to do it."