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Friday, March 12, 2010

Norwich students raise almost $8k for employee in cancer treatment



For Immediate Release
March 12, 2010
Contact: Daphne Larkin
802-485-2886
dlarkin@norwich.edu

NEWS RELEASE

Norwich students raise almost $8k for employee in cancer treatment

NORTHFIELD –
On Tuesday, March 9, Norwich University students presented dining hall employee Rosemary Sprague with a check totaling just under $8,000. This was not to cover an outstanding debt for an overcharged meal card but rather an act of love for someone the students see every day as they enter the dining hall to eat.

Sprague, of Northfield, is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and the fundraiser was meant to help her through this time of added medical expenses.

“They just wanted me to feel better,” she said. “I love them. I didn’t realize how much they really cared about me until this situation the other day.”

In her eighth year working in the dining hall, Sprague mans the counter where students swipe their meal cards. But anyone who has ever dined in the Wise Campus Center knows she is more than just an employee.

“We wanted to do this for Rosemary because she is part of the Norwich Family and has brought joy into so many lives with her beautiful personality and encouragement,” said Alison Lanz, the regimental commander of the Corps of Cadets and the student behind the fundraiser. “She is always complimenting us. It is the least that we could do for her.”
The idea to raise money to help Sprague through her treatment came from the Corps of Cadets, who paid $10 each to wear civilian clothes on Monday.

Upon learning of the fundraiser, civilian students joined the effort raising almost $400. They made pink breast cancer awareness pins, to which they added blue (Sprague’s favorite color) and sold 215 of them. Some students paid $10-$20 for a pin selling for $1.

“Everyone loves Rosemary,” said Jessica Henderson, senior resident coordinator. “And so when told they had the opportunity to donate some money to support her, they jumped at the chance.”

Editor’s note: The photo shows(on the left) student Alison Lanz presenting Rosemary Sprague (on the right) with a check for $7,931 raised by Norwich students.


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Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army. Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States of America and the birthplace of our nation's Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu