BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech Athletics Department's Drive for 25 Blitz was a huge success, as fans, students, alumni, faculty, staff and others combined to give more than $800,000 during a 2.5-day period that started at noon on the Wednesday before the Tech-Duke football game and concluded at midnight after the game.
Officials from the Hokie Club – the fundraising group for athletics – encouraged members of Hokie Nation to donate either to their favorite sports or to the Hokie Scholarship Fund, which helps the athletics department pay for the scholarships of more than 550 student-athletes. Led by spokesperson Frank Beamer, the athletics department and the Hokie Club launched the Drive for 25 in 2016, with the goal being to increase membership into the Hokie Club to 25,000.
In addition to securing the financial resources during this blitz to help Virginia Tech Athletics, the staff also added over 1,900 new members to the Hokie Club, bringing the current membership to nearly 18,000. Since 2016, the Hokie Club has expanded by nearly 9,000 members.
In all, more than 3,100 people contributed during the Drive for 25 Blitz, combining for the $807,000 total.
"On behalf of the Hokie Club, I'd like to thank every individual who contributed to the betterment of our student-athletes and our teams during our Drive for 25 Blitz," said Bill Lansden, senior associate athletics director for development and executive director of the Hokie Club. "Those donations will have an impact on every one of our more than 550 student-athletes and also future student-athletes, and we, as a staff, are committed to using your gifts responsibly to make a difference in the lives of those student-athletes and their respective sports.
"We're also going to continue to work hard to reach our goal of having 25,000 members in the Hokie Club. We're not there yet, but because of Hokie Nation's commitment, we took several steps in the right direction. The future of Virginia Tech Athletics has never been more promising."
Hokie Club officials had secured $10,000 matching gifts for each of the Hokies' varsity sports – and those matches were all met.
In looking at other numbers, the football program secured the most gifts with 372 followed by women's soccer (285), swimming and diving (234), and women's tennis (194). The men's basketball program secured the most money at nearly $70,000 from 154 gifts.
Of the more than 3,100 total gifts, 733 went to the Hokie Scholarship Fund – an increase of 140 gifts from 2018's Drive for 25 Day. More than 1,200 of the gifts came from Ambassador links. Numerous current members of the Hokie Club served as Drive for 25 Blitz Ambassadors, reaching out to friends and colleagues through email and social media and educating them on how their contributions make a difference in the lives of student-athletes.
"I want to thank all of those who volunteered to be Drive for 25 Blitz Ambassadors," Lansden said. "This is a special group of people who not only have invested their money, but their time and work ethic into what we're building in Blacksburg. We couldn't have done what we did during this event without their support.
"I certainly would say those same things about my staff as well and want to thank them for the time and effort that they put into this event – and really the time and effort that they put in every day to help our coaches and student-athletes. We have a great group of people here in the Hokie Club office, and I'm proud of all that they do."
Though Drive for 25 Blitz has concluded, Tech fans still can be a part of the Drive for 25 initiative. For more details, please visit www.hokieclub.com.
