July 13, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 13th Annual Penn State Uplifting Athletes "Lift For Life" was a tremendous success on Saturday, raising $120,000 in 2015 to benefit the Kidney Cancer Association. The 13-year total for "Lift for Life" is now more than $1.12 million.
As of Monday morning, Penn State football student-athletes have raised slightly more than $120,000 for kidney cancer patients and awareness this year, with additional donations expected this month. More than 100 members of the Nittany Lion football team participated in Saturday's Lift For Life.
With the $120,000 in contributions from this year, more than $1.12 million has been raised in the battle against rare diseases by Penn State Uplifting Athletes since the inaugural Lift For Life was held in 2003. The inaugural event raised just under $13,000. The last five Penn State Lift For Life events have all raised in excess of $100,000.
Contributions to Penn State Uplifting Athletes in the fight against kidney cancer for 2014-15 will be accepted through September 30. Fans can make a Lift For Life donation by visiting the Penn State Uplifting Athletes donation page at: give.upliftingathletes.org/psulift2015.
The Penn State Lift For Life was held outdoors at the Penn State Lacrosse Field for the fourth consecutive year, with approximately 2,500 fans in attendance. The offense posted a 31-30 come-from-behind victory over the defense during the six strength and conditioning competitions. The competition featured eight rotations of one-on-one battles in the 225-pound bench press, 400-pound "farmer" hold, obstacle course relay, deadlift, sled push/pull relay and tire flip. The offense won three of the four tug-of-war battles to conclude the event.
The 2015 Penn State Lift For Life included a kids clinic for the second year in a row, which was run by the Nittany Lion freshmen football student-athletes. The event concluded with an autograph session with team.
Penn State Uplifting Athletes would like to thank the following groups and organizations for their support of the 2015 Penn State Lift for Life: AAA of South Central Pennsylvania, Best Event Rentals, Rotelli, Culligan Water of Bellefonte, Pa., WPSU, Penn State Football Parent Association, B94.5, Centre Daily Times, ESPN Radio 1450/Forever Broadcasting, FightonState.com, Michael Shimko Memorial Golf Classic, Family Clothes Line, Learfield Sports, Penn State men's basketball, State College Spikes, Lancaster Barnstormers, Willie Family Scarves, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, Penn State Office of Physical Plant and Penn State strength, training and equipment staffs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved eight new therapies for the treatment of kidney cancer in the U.S. since the first Lift For Life in 2003. The Kidney Cancer Association has credited the Penn State Lift For Life as being a catalyst for the new treatments, according to Scott Shirley, Uplifting Athletes Executive Director.
Founded by Penn State Football teammates Scott Shirley, Dave Costlow and Damone Jones in 2003, Lift For Life has continued to build awareness and raise funds for the Kidney Cancer Association. The event is organized by Penn State Football Uplifting Athletes. Penn State football team members serving as 2015 Uplifting Athletes officers are: linebacker Ben Kline, president; tight end/h-back Adam Breneman, vice president; wide receiver Gregg Garrity, director of marketing; kicker Chris Gulla, safety Joe Berg and tackle Brendan Brosnan, co-directors of finance; defensive end Garrett Sickels, director of operations; safety Anthony Smith, university relations manager; running back Akeel Lynch, director of compliance, defensive tackle Anthony Zettel, sergeant at arms and linebacker Koa Farmer, tight end/h-back Dom Salomone and tight end/h-back Brent Wilkerson, officers. Former football squad members and current Penn State students Deron Thompson (secretary), Joe Marvin (treasurer) and Bryce Wilson (director of alumni operations) also are officers.
About Uplifting Athletes: Uplifting Athletes is a national nonprofit organization aligning college football with rare diseases and raising them as a national priority through outreach, research, education, and advocacy. What makes Uplifting Athletes unique is that our chapter network is run by current football student-athletes, providing them with an opportunity to gain practical job skills while learning how to leverage their assets and abilities to make a positive and lasting impact.
The Uplifting Athletes Chapters are: Penn State, Arizona, Colgate, Illinois, Northwestern, Princeton, Syracuse, Baylor, Florida State, Maryland, Notre Dame, St. Francis (Pa.), Virginia, Boston College, Fordham, Nebraska, Ohio State, South Carolina, Washington, Clemson, Georgetown, NC State, Stony Brook and Wisconsin. Each chapter adopts one out of approximately 7,000 rare diseases (such as ALS, Aplastic Anemia, CMT, cystic fibrosis, Ehlers-Danlos, Ewing's Sarcoma, Kidney Cancer, Leukemia, MS, Neimann Pick Type-C, Neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer, etc.).
The Nittany Lions open the 2015 campaign on the road against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 5 at 3:30 p.m. Season, partial season and single game tickets for the 2015 campaign are on sale, with nearly 4,000 new season tickets having been sold. To purchase tickets or for information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and purchasing new 2015 season tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 10 a.m-6 p.m.