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Meredith Athletics Kicks Off Pennies for a Purpose Fundraiser

The Meredith College Athletics Department has kicked off its annual spring fundraiser “Pennies for a Purpose” in an effort to help a nonprofit of their choice. All proceeds from this year’s fundraiser will go towards the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society.

Meredith chose the National MS Society as the charity of choice for this year’s efforts in support of Avenging Angels cross country runner Briana Landis who is living with the disease. She is an advocate for the National MS Society and hopes to aid in helping to find a cure.

“As a person with MS and having met countless others with MS more severe than mine, it means the world to have my fellow Angels helping me to give back,” said Landis. “The doctors have warned me that I may not be able to walk later in life or I could lose my vision, so having all of Meredith behind me, helping to stop this devastating disease in its tracks just fills me with so much joy.”

Meredith community members are encouraged to donate to the MS Society through the Pennies for a Purpose fundraiser. Cash and check donations will be accepted at all home softball games, lacrosse games, and tennis matches, or can be dropped off with SAAC Advisor and Head Volleyball Coach Fiona Barkley in 21 Weatherspoon. The deadline to donate is April 6.

From March 19-May 22 the athletics department will be hosting the Special Olympics on Sunday afternoons from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Donations will be accepted at the track complex during that time.

“The MS Society is the largest funder of MS research in the world,” said Landis. “The money we raise will go to funding this research. The research that the MS Society is doing is everything from finding a cure, to restoring function in the nerves, to new treatments.”

The USA South Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) developed “Pennies for a Purpose” in 2008 in an effort to help worthy organizations during the spring semester. Over its nine-year history, the USA South institutions have donated more than $42,000 to local organizations.

Meredith is a two-time champion of Pennies for a Purpose, having been crowned in 2009 and 2012.

To learn more about Briana Landis and her fight for a cure, read her Strong Story

Melyssa Allen

News Director
316 Johnson Hall
(919) 760-8087
Fax: (919) 760-8330

allenme@meredith.edu