INDIANAPOLIS — The University of North Georgia raised more money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2015-16 than any other NCAA Division II school, the NCAA released earlier this week. UNG set a new record with $34,000 raised, bettering its own mark of $21,413 in 2013-14.
North Georgia is currently in the early stages of its 2016-17 Make-A-Wish fundraising campaign that will culminate on Monday, Mar. 27 with the 2nd Annual Run with Nigel Run/Walk on the Dahlonega campus.
Earlier this year, the Nighthawk Nation hosted Alexis Mendoza as a member of the UNG women's soccer team, marking the school's fifth consecutive on-campus hosting of a Wish child.
Division II schools raised more than $608,000 for Make-A-Wish during the 2015-16 academic year, marking the fifth consecutive year the division has set a fundraising record.
4534The division has raised more than $4.7 million for Make-A-Wish since beginning its partnership with the nonprofit 13 years ago. Those funds have been used to grant more than 590 wishes for children around the country who face life-threatening medical conditions.
The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee established the partnership with Make-A-Wish in 2003 and continues to drive the division-wide initiative. SAAC continued a model adopted last year in which money collected from championship and enforcement fines are added to institutional fundraising totals to allow institutions the opportunity to host a wish reveal party on campus. In 2015-16, five schools raised above the national average cost of a wish reveal - $9,500 - and automatically earned a wish reveal party. For an additional 21 schools, which all raised $5,000 or more, SAAC will award money from the fines to help them meet the minimum fundraising requirement for a wish reveal.
"The fundraising effort for Make-A-Wish is so important because it provides SAAC and Division II athletes the chance to realize the positive impact they can have in someone's life," said Christopher Pike, a former football student-athlete at Gannon University and former Division II SAAC chair. "Division II SAAC couldn't be more pleased with this year's Make-A-Wish efforts, and we continually hope that we as a division can keep raising the bar because together we are making a huge difference."
