Demorest, GA - The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Piedmont College came up with a creative way for teams to raise funds in the Pennies for a Purpose campaign associated with the USA South Athletic Conference.  

The idea came from a former SAAC leader during her collegiate playing days in former Piedmont women's lacrosse assistant Lauren Davis.  Now the Head Women's Lacrosse Coach at Marian University, Davis brought the idea of a Penny War where teams would compete with one another to raise money for the league-wide campaign.  

With deposits located in the Athletic Training Room in the Johnny Mize Athletic Center, teams were awarded points for pennies placed in their designated collection container but penalized for any change that was silver creating a points system that drove right at the heart of Piedmont Athletics - competition.  

This time around, it was the competition amongst teams that dominated the facility with each team trying to pack in as many pennies as possible into their containers while also adding nickels, dimes, and quarters into other team's containers to even out the points total.  

Piedmont raised more than $750 for the Pennies for a Purpose campaign on the year with other events including a tennis tournament this spring adding to the cause.  

The effort came as part of the USA South SAAC which developed Pennies for a Purpose in 2008 in an effort to help worthy organizations during the spring semester.  Each league member institution had until April 7 to collect loose change which would later be donated to an organization of their choosing.  

According to USASouth.net, the 13 member institutions collected a record $7,301.47 with eight institutions including Piedmont establishing a new all-time high for funds collected.  In the eight-year history of the initiative, USA South member institutions have donated more than $32,000 to local organizations. 

Averett won the competition for the first time with more than $1,800 raised, the 4th highest single-year total collected in the history of the competition.  Piedmont finished just over $50 from the top four rounded out by Methodist and its $803.14 raised.  

Piedmont's Penny War saw more than 260 pounds of pennies donated for the cause, equal to nine gallons of just pennies alone.