General | September 21, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - Penn Athletics is excited to announce that through the generosity of Marritje and James "Jamie" H. Greene, W'72, chair of the Penn Athletics Board of Overseers and member of the Penn Lacrosse Sports Board, a $500,000 nutrition endowment matching challenge for Penn Lacrosse Young Alumni (classes of 2011 through 2020) has been launched in coordination with Set the Future in Motion: Final Year of the Game Onward Campaign for Penn Athletics.

With this gift, Jamie and Marritje will sponsor an unlocking challenge whereby they will contribute to specific endowments for each class of both the women's and men's alumni classes, contingent upon that class reaching its fundraising goal. The fundraising goal for each class will vary, and the target is set such that each commitment total is an aggregate of up to five-year pledges from the individuals of each class. Once each class reaches its goal and the challenge funds are unlocked, Penn Lacrosse will reach $1,000,000 for its nutrition endowment.

"As many know, I strongly believe building our lacrosse endowment is critical for our programs," notes Greene. "This undertaking will engage our Young Alumni and simultaneously benefit our players with better nutrition. It's a win-win for everyone involved."

The recent surge of success from Penn Lacrosse, including the women's team winning 11 of the past 13 Ivy League championships and a 2019 Ivy League championship from the men's team, have been powered in part to what the program sees as one of its biggest competitive advantages: its fueling station and ability to provide the best nutrition to its student-athletes on a daily basis. With this gift, Penn Lacrosse will be able to provide a stable source of funding through endowment to help provide ever-evolving nutritional needs of the program.

"The James H. Greene, Jr., W'72 and Marritje Greene Young Alumni Nutrition Endowment Challenge represents the opportunity for our program to continue to utilize the fueling station," said James H. Greene, Jr. Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse Mike Murphy. "Our competitiveness on the field has been directly impacted by the fueling station and our ability to use this resource on a daily basis to get our athletes the nutrition they need to be their best. The entire Penn Men's Lacrosse program is grateful for our Penn Lacrosse Young Alumni stepping up to this challenge to propel our program forward toward championships in the future."

Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse Karin Corbett understands the impact of this initiative, noting "We are so grateful to have the fueling station for our players, as so many of our athletes find themselves running to and from class for practices and many of them need something to help fuel their bodies in order to be their best. We also utilize the fueling station at halftime of our games to give us a boost of energy for the second half. The players are so appreciative that they have the fueling station in our locker room and we are excited that the Young Alumni Endowment Challenge will give Penn Lacrosse this advantage into the future."

In alignment with the coaches, the leadership of the young alumni community grasps the gravity of this initiative. With the genesis of the Penn Lacrosse Young Alumni Committee last fiscal year, co-chaired by lacrosse alumni Barb Seaman, W'10 and Brett Hughes, C'11, the structure is in place to have a successful challenge.

"We are so thankful for Jamie and Marritje's generosity and excited to work with our peers to generate positive momentum around this challenge," said Hughes and Seaman. "Our young alumni leadership group understands the importance of nutrition for the programs and we will make sure to rise to the occasion and meet this challenge."

As Penn Lacrosse enters the final year of the Game Onward campaign for Penn Athletics. the drive to build Penn Lacrosse's endowment has never been more critical to the long term success of the programs. The time to set the future in motion for our programs is now and the young alumni community of Penn Lacrosse has the opportunity to step up their leadership for the program. Below is a table which shows the unlocking thresholds for each class:



As a part of this challenge, Penn Lacrosse asks that all young alumni (classes of 2011 through 2020) consider a pledge to the class endowment effort along with any annual fund support. Along with building Penn Lacrosse's endowment, annual giving remains critical for sustained resources for both Penn Lacrosse programs.

To make up to a five-year commitment to your year's endowment goal, please reach out to Charlie Carroll (ccarrol2@upenn.edu) or Kate McCormick (kmac5@upenn.edu) from the Penn Champions Club. Charlie and Kate can follow up with appropriate documentation to book a pledge to this initiative and provide giving links to the appropriate class nutrition endowment fund.