WM Student Athletes Reach Halfway Point In Weaver Memorial Fundraiser

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lt. Todd Weaver

If fundraising is successful, one student who embodies those traits will receive a scholarship each year from William and Mary in Weaver’s memory. Weaver, a 2008 alumnus, was killed Sept. 9 in Kandahar, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in October.

Since then, his family has created the Lt. Todd Weaver Memorial Award, a scholarship that will be given to help fund a semester abroad for a William and Mary student who plans on pursuing a career in government or public service. Weaver, a government major, visited five continents before his death. To ensure the award will be endowed in perpetuity, $50,000 must be raised in one year.

In an effort to raise funds, the Student Athletic Advisory Council has been selling white silicon wristbands that bear the slogan, “One Tribe. One Family.” They hope to have $20,000 to contribute to the Weaver Memorial Award by the end of the year, and are well on their way. They started selling the bands soon after Thanksgiving, and despite the interruptions of finals and holiday breaks, have already managed to reach their halfway point, raising $11,000 before the start of the second semester.

Max Sabert, a senior who is president of the SAAC, said the organization had been hoping to do a wristband fundraiser, but wanted to find a worthy charity to receive the funds. When Weaver’s family created the award, they knew they’d found their cause. “(Weaver’s death) is close to home for William and Mary students, so we came up with this slogan, ‘One Tribe. One Family.’ to unite not only current students, but anyone connected to the William and Mary family,” Sabert said.

A committee of six SAAC members (Max Sabert, Brandon Heroux, Kevin Alas, Logan Billbrough, Quinn McDowell and Jim Fenningham) worked to order the bands and sell them for $3 each at football games, around campus and now, online. Sabert said the response from alumni and community members, in addition to students, was a big surprise. The bands have been worn by current NFL stars and William and Mary grads Derek Cox, R.J. Archer, Adrian Tracy and David Caldwell, and have the support of the Board of Visitors, President Taylor Reveley, Student Assembly President Christina Scott, Mason School of Business Dean Lawrence Pulley and others.

In the second semester, the group plans to ramp up the promotion of the bands. Sabert said when the students start the term next week, they’ll be hanging banners on campus, e-mailing professors and working with student groups and Greek organizations to get the word out. They also hope to get exposure through the alumni magazine, and other media outlets. “Our goal is to reach the rest of the student body and alumni,” Sabert said.