As of Tuesday morning, Penn State football student-athletes have $95,089.98 for Uplifting Athletes and its commitment to life skills development, patient focused programs and rare disease research. Photo by Penn State Athletics.

Penn State Uplifting Athletes Raise $95,090 at Lift for Life

Penn State football team brings all-time total to nearly $1.3 million raised for Uplifting Athletes since 2003

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; July 18, 2016 – The 15th Annual Penn State Uplifting Athletes “Lift for Life” was a tremendous success on Saturday. The preliminary fundraising total for the 2017 event is more than $95,000 to benefit Uplifting Athletes and its commitment to life skills development, patient focused programs and rare disease research. The 15-year total for “Lift for Life” is now nearly $1.3 million.

As of Tuesday morning, Penn State football student-athletes have $95,089.98 for Uplifting Athletes and its commitment to life skills development, patient focused programs and rare disease research. Donations to the Penn State chapter of Uplifting Athletes and Lift for Life will remain open until September 30. Fans can track the live total or donate by visiting the chapter’s fundraising site at https://pledgeit.org/team/psu-lift-for-life-2017 or by sending a donation to Will Flaherty, Director of Player Development and Community Relations at 201 Lasch Football Building, University Park, Pa 16802.

With the $95,090 in contributions from this year, nearly $1.3 million has been raised by Penn State Uplifting Athletes since the inaugural Lift for Life was held in 2003. The inaugural event raised just under $13,000.

The Penn State Lift for Life featured more than 100 members of the Nittany Lion football team and was held at Holuba Hall, with approximately 2,000 fans in attendance. The exhibition featured rotations of one-on-one battles in the tire flip, sled pull, bench press and farmer’s hold, followed by tug of war competitions.

The 2017 Penn State Lift for Life included a kids clinic for the fourth year in a row, which was run by the Nittany Lion true 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 2017 Penn State Lift for Life: Best Event Rentals, Hog Fathers BBQ, Culligan Water of Bellefonte, Pa., WPSU, Penn State Football Parent Association, B94.5, ESPN Radio 1450/Forever Broadcasting, Keystone Sports Network, Michael Shimko Memorial Golf Classic, Learfield Sports, Success with Honor, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, Penn State Office of Physical Plant and Penn State strength and training staffs.

Founded by Penn State Football teammates Scott Shirley, Dave Costlow and Damone Jones in 2003, Lift for Life has benefitted cancer research and the rare disease community. The Penn State Uplifting Athletes Chapter also announced linebacker Jason Cabinda and quarterback Trace McSorley will serve as co-presidents. The 2017 Uplifting Athletes officers are: offensive lineman Andrew Nelson, vice president; offensive lineman Ryan Bates, secretary; former offensive lineman Tom Devenney, treasurer.

About Uplifting Athletes: A nonprofit organization founded in 2007, Uplifting Athletes inspires the rare disease community with hope through the power of sport. A rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 Americans and typically lacks financial incentive to make and market new treatments. With a network of university chapters run by current college football student-athletes, Uplifting Athletes has established 22 chapters with Division I football programs across the country. Overall since its inception Uplifting Athletes has had an economic impact of more than $400 million on the rare disease community. For more information about Uplifting Athletes, visit www.upliftingathletes.org.

The Nittany Lions’ home schedule features a trio of non-conference games, including Pitt’s first visit to Beaver Stadium since 1999. The Nittany Lions open the season against Akron (Sept. 2) and face Pitt (Sept. 9) and Georgia State (Sept. 16) to close out a three-game homestand to start the year. In Big Ten play, Penn State welcomes Indiana (Sept. 30), Michigan (Oct. 21), Rutgers (Nov. 11 – Homecoming) and Nebraska (Nov. 18) to Happy Valley.

Nearly 8,900 new season tickets have been sold for the 2017 campaign. For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and purchasing new 2017 season tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit www.PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 10 a.m-6 p.m.