(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) - For the 17th year in a row, the Acadia Axemen football team canvassed the greater area of Wolfville, N.S., as well as the Acadia campus over a 12-hour period to raise funds on behalf of the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia.
Most years, the team has endured sub-zero temperatures and snow but for the second year in a row, the Axemen football team found refuge in a 4 degree winter oasis.
With the weather cooperating, the team collected over $6,900, falling just short of last year's record of $7,300 collected from the tiny community of Wolfville, N.S.
The football team has collected well over $90,000 in the last 17 years and will continue to support this initiative in the future.
For this achievement, the Society will be honouring assistant coach Shad McLachlan and head coach Jeff Cummins Friday morning at the Society's Research Breakfast in the Valley at the Old Orchard Inn.
Cummins pointed out how proud he is of his team's effort.
“We are very happy to be able to contribute to the Alzheimer Society ‘Forget Me Not’ awareness campaign during January,” said Cummins, the two-time reigning AUS coach of the year. “I am very proud of the effort our team displayed this year, raising the second-highest amount in my 12 years with the program. We are already looking forward to next year and surpassing our record of $7,300."
Cummins also pointed out the importance and legacy of the event for his team and coaches.
"Assistant coach Shad McLachlan, who would have experienced this event when he was a player at Acadia, pulled the canvassing logistics together and did a great job. It is something we believe in and this disease is something our society can do without. ”
The team has not missed a year since the drive began as an AUS Football initiative in 1997.
Source: Acadia Sports Information