COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland Chapter of Uplifting Athletes held its annual Lift For Life event Wednesday at Byrd Stadium as the football team continued its mission of raising awareness and research dollars for cystic fibrosis and the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

Lift For Life is the signature fundraising event for the Uplifting Athletes nationwide network of 25 college football student-athlete led chapters.

“Today's event was great – we got an awesome workout in for a great cause,” said senior Evan Mulrooney, the Maryland Chapter Vice President. “We've gotten a lot of donations from friends, family and others interested in the cause so we are really excited about spreading awareness and raising money.”

“When I was an underclassmen, I watched the older guys who were involved in the program and looked forward to continue the fundraiser as I got older,” said senior Andrew Zeller, President of the Maryland Chapter. “This was my fifth Lift For Life at Maryland and it has really evolved – the guys get really pumped up for it and it brings a lot of excitement to the team as we get involved in the community.”

Earlier this year the Terrapins Chapter kick started their awareness and fundraising efforts by participating in Maryland Day on campus. Members of the football team put together an obstacle course for kids, signed autographs and took pictures with fans dressed in a Terrapins football uniform.

Each member of the 2015 Maryland football has an individual fundraising page, so find your favorite Terrapins player and support his efforts.

In order to support the Maryland Chapter and help the Terrapins reach their $15,000 goal, visit the Chapter fundraising site at www.give.upliftingathletes.org/umdlift2015.

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Uplifting Athletes is a full service national nonprofit organization aligning college football with rare diseases and raising them as a national priority through research, outreach, education and advocacy. What makes Uplifting Athletes unique is that our university chapters are run by current football student-athletes, providing them with an opportunity to gain management and leadership skills while learning how to leverage their assets and abilities to make a positive and lasting impact. Each chapter adopts one out of approximately 7,000 rare diseases (such as Aplastic Anemia, cystic fibrosis, pediatric brain cancer, kidney cancer, Leukemia, Neimann Pick Type-C, Neuroblastoma,, Fanconi anemia, etc.).  For more information about Uplifting Athletes, visit www.upliftingathletes.org.