UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics' #GivingTuesday initiative was highly successful, with community engagement and contributions for student-athlete excellence from early in the morning until late Tuesday night.
Preliminary totals show that Penn State Athletics staff and Nittany Lion supporters contributed 436 gifts to help create conditions for success for Penn State's 800 student-athletes and 31 varsity programs. More than $225,000 was contributed to the Challenge for Student-Athlete Excellence. Both totals were up from last year’s 305 gifts that exceeded $150,000 to benefit Nittany Lion student-athletes.
“The pride and passion of our community for students and student success, was abundant yesterday,” said Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour. “I’m so grateful to all who gave to support our student-athletes, and for the servant hearts that our staff and students exhibited through their community service. Penn State has so much to be proud of in the examples that our student-athletes, coaches and staff set. It’s clear the impact that those who support us are able to have in creating opportunities for our students.”
Approximately 80 Penn State coaches and staff volunteered more than 100 hours of community service in several engagement activities, including Meals on Wheels food preparation and meal delivery, housing preparation at Housing Transitions, and sorting food donations at the State College Food Bank.
Nittany Lion staff also donated items for Toys for Tots, Housing Transitions and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Penn State student-athletes also volunteered their time on #GivingTuesday, including reading at local elementary schools.
Penn State student-athletes, staff and teams posted photos, videos and comments on their social media sites during their #GivingTuesday activities. Fans can view videos and photos of #GivingTuesday events by visiting GoPSUsports.com/givingtuesday.
Penn Staters support student-athletes through Levi Lamb Annual Fund
Penn State alumni and fans demonstrated their support to Penn State Athletics on #GivingTuesday by making gifts to the Levi Lamb Annual Fund.
Contributions to the Levi Lamb Annual Fund go directly to awarding scholarships to student-athletes from all of Penn State’s 31 varsity sports. In addition to scholarships, contributions to the annual fund make it possible to acquire the needed resources for cost of attendance stipends and new nutritional needs. These two areas directly impact Nittany Lion student-athletes.
For more information on giving to create conditions for success for Penn State student-athletes, call the Nittany Lion Club at 814-865-9462.