GW Rowing Programs' Row For Humanity Raises $ 24,238
2/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Feb. 5, 2004
WASHINGTON, DC - The inaugural Row for Humanity fund-raiser at The George Washington University was held Wednesday Jan. 28th. The event, which originated on the Kansas State University campus in 1995, benefits Habitat for Humanity and the colleges' rowing teams.
More than 60 female and male participants, including coaches and coxswains, rowed one-and-a-half million meters from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., raising $24,238 for the men's and women's rowing programs and for DC Habitat for Humanity. Seventeen rowing machines were set up in the food court at the Marvin Center student union building. Participants rowed for a continuous hour on an ergometer, raising dollars for their efforts.
Several rowers spent more than two hours on the ergometers. Regina Cambilargiu (Fairbanks, AK/North Pole), Emily Sustick (Northampton, MA/Northampton) and Emily Garafalo (Hallowell, ME/Hall-Dale) all contributed 30,000 meters to the grand total. Senior Brynn Kowalski (Doylestown, PA/Gwynedd Mercy) tallied the most meters for a one-hour session with 14,239 meters. Freshman Hilary Goldberg (Bethesda, MD/Walt Whitman) rowed the farthest of the novice team members with 13,608 meters.
Members of GW men's rowing completed the equivalent of a marathon on the rowing machine. Four rowers, Justin Luther (Florissant, MO/Hazelwood Central), Victor Marwin (Snyder, NY/Canisius), Alex Cashman (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) and Steve Carlson (Southborough, MA/Saint Mark's) each rowed over 42,195 meters, taking nearly to 2 1/2 hours to complete.
In the days leading up to the event, the rowers were hard at work sending out mailers to friends and families, making posters to promote Row for Humanity and, of course, working on the ergs in preparation to row over 15,000 meters each.
Andrew Boutros (Great Falls, VA/Langley), a Colonials freshman, raised $1200, the largest amount raised by any rower. On the women's side, varsity women's coxswains raised the most money. Sophomore Sara Neugroschel (Wyomissing, PA/Wyomissing) brought in $1,086 in donations and senior Lisa Lockwood (Washington, DC/Wilson) was a close second with $1,045.
GW Rowing would like to thank Select Printing for donating their services and Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for generous donations of food and water for the event.
Row for Humanity is becoming a popular fund-raiser throughout the country. This year, nine college and high school programs participated in the event.
Donations are still being accepted. Please contact the GW Rowing office at 202-994-8603 for more information on how to donate, or how to help for the 2005 Row For Humanity Event.
The Colonials return to competition March 27 against Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ (women) and on the Potomac River against University of Virginia (men).