LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference office announced today that the Texas Lutheran University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is the winner of the league's "Change For The Better" campaign. It is the second consecutive win in the contest for the TLU SAAC.
Approved by the SCAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2015, the "Change for the Better" contest allows each member institution to collect as much change as possible from fans, parents and students in support of a chosen charity over the course of one weekend during the conference basketball season.
All of the league's eight Student-Athlete Advisory Committees participated in this year's effort with a total of $1998.80 raised for various charitable organizations. The amount raised this year represents a 146 percent increase over last year's inaugural effort.
Texas Lutheran won the 2017 competition with a total of $670.93 raised for Jillian's Leap, a fundraiser to support former TLU volleyball player Jillian Williams' medical treatment and prosthesis after losing her leg to Ewing's Sarcoma.
The results, with the school's chosen charity in parentheses, are listed below:
1. Texas Lutheran - $670.93 (Jillian's Leap)
2. Schreiner - $419.67 (Hill Country Youth Ranch)
3. Trinity - $277.00 (American Cancer Society)
4. Colorado College - $188.37 (Kay Yow Cancer Fund)
5. Austin College - $147.67 (Denison Animal Welfare Group - DAWG)
6. Centenary College - $128.08 (Special Olympics)
7. Southwestern - $100.45 (BiG - The Brookwood Community in Georgetown)
8. Dallas - $66.63 (Special Olympics)
Additionally, the SCAC office conducted its annual sale of autographed basketballs at the 2017 Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament in Georgetown. That effort raised an additional $1,060 which will be donated to the Ride On Center for Kids (R.O.C.K.), a hippotherapy/therapeutic riding program devoted to the special needs population of Williamson and surrounding counties.
Since the inception of the Change for the Better competition in 2016, more than $2,800 has been raised for various charities throughout the conference.