First Coach Callahan 5K Raises $11,000

Lincoln, Neb. ? Nebraska Head Football Coach Bill Callahan signed and delivered two checks for $5,500 each this week to two Coach Callahan.com charities. The funds were raised at the first-annual Coach Callahan 5K Fun Run/Walk, held on campus on Aug. 21. The race, which began and ended on Stadium Drive, attracted approximately 800 participants.

With the generous contributions from the event sponsored by Holiday Inn, Coach Callahan Charities donated $5,500 to the University of Nebraska Libraries Electronic Resources Fund and $5,500 to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Combined with the $35,000 raised by Coach Callahan’s Football 101 for Women and donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, $46,000 has been donated to date in Coach Callahan Charities first year.

The $5,500 that goes toward the University Libraries Electronic Resources Fund will benefit current and future faculty, students and staff. The money will be used specifically to support First Search, an electronic database that is used heavily by UNL students, particularly undergraduates.

Nebraska Dean of Libraries Joan Giesecke said the University is honored to be a beneficiary of Coach Callahan Charities.

"We are grateful for the support," Giesecke said. "These funds will allow the libraries to add additional electronic resources so our faculty and staff can use the library wherever they are?whether it’s on campus or on the road to a game."

Lewis Runnion, the International Board of Directors representative for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said 80 cents of every dollar contributed will go toward research.

"The mission of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is to cure diabetes via research," Runnion said. "The foundation will spend over $100 million each year to fund research internationally. Diabetes and its complications result in $130 billion in health care costs, but with the help of private and federal funding, we can cure diabetes and eliminate those costs."