March 08, 2013

SAAC raises $4,795.93 in Northwest Conference Coin Drive Challenge

SAAC raises $4,795.93 in Northwest Conference Coin Drive Challenge

The Lewis & Clark Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) raised $4,795.93 over Friday, February 8 and Saturday, February 9 for the Northwest Conference (NWC) Coin Drive Challenge. All the money raised will be donated to Special Olympics Oregon.

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee hosted a table outside of the J.R. Howard academic building with complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, and doughnuts on Friday morning. Throughout that same day, student-athletes from all 19 Lewis & Clark varsity teams wore their uniforms around campus taking donations from students, faculty, and whomever else they ran into. For the first time since the commencement of the coin drive, if a donation of $1 or more was made the contributor was entered into a raffle to win a variety of prizes. The prizes were donated by members of the Lewis and Clark community as well as local business. Prizes were raffled off during the Men’s and Women’s basketball games on Saturday evening.

“The raffle was an excellent idea that came directly from SAAC. It was a clever and fun way both to encourage more donations and attendance at the basketball games” Elena Hoff, SAAC ASLC representative.

On the Saturday morning, a group of 26 student-athletes and Director of Athletics, Clark Yeager, ventured down to Broughton Beach. Yeager and the student-athletes participated in “Polar Plunge,” a fundraiser for Special Olympics Oregon that involved a crisp dip into the Columbia River.

Apart from the raffle, SAAC hosted a silent auction during the basketball games on the evening of ninth. All the proceeds from the silent auction were raised for Special Olympics Oregon.

Also new this year was a grand prize raffle. Archer Travel (the travel agency that handles travel for all Lewis & Clark teams) donated a free two-day trip to Las Vegas, NV. Individuals who donated $20 or more were entered into this special raffle for a chance to win this wonderful prize. Winning the grand prize this year was Lewis & Clark recent graduate Kathleen McGinley.

“We would like to thank all those who participated in the drive,” said SAAC Treasurer Drew LeDonne, “we are especially appreciative of the community members who donated raffle and silent auctions items, that was a big help and a huge catalyst for the increased levels of participation we saw this year. Our goal is to grow this thing as big as we can in the years to come and this year was a big step forward”.

SAAC looks forward to continuing their great partnership with Special Olympics and will keep everyone updated regarding any initiatives in the future.

At the NWC SAAC meeting hosted by Willamette on Sunday, March 3 all nine schools convened to compare fundraiser amounts. The final tally came in with Lewis & Clark in first place, having raised more money than all the other the other schools combined.

During the meeting, junior football/track & field athlete Matt DeRosa was selected to be the NWC SAAC President for the 2013-14 year. Sophomore Glenna Andrews will also represent the Pioneers on the conference SAAC committee, being selected as the next secretary.

Submitted by Megan Andre, SAAC Co-Chair and Drew LeDonne, SAAC Treasurer