This past Saturday October 17, the Powerlifting Club held a walk-a-thon inspired fundraiser in which participants were sponsored by others to bench press as many reps as possible to failure in order to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. Each sponsor pledged a certain amount per rep to donate for their participant, whether it be 50 cents per rep or a dollar.
On the day of the event, 47 people participated in benching until failure, 15 of which were Powerlifting Club members.  Other members of the club acted as staff at the event, counting reps and spotting those participating.
 
Women who participated in the event benched 45 lbs. to failure and men who participated benched 135 lbs. to failure. The top three men who benched were Phil Green with 51 reps, powerlifting member Eric Li with 50 reps, and powerlifting club president Forrest Schaffer with 48 reps. The top three females to bench the bar were Powerlifting member Tina Liu with 70 reps, Taylor Massena with 69 reps, and Alexa Criollo with 68 reps.
 
The fundraising goal that the Powerlifting club set for themselves was $2500. Currently, they have raised $2,486 of their goal through various pledges from sponsors and donations from businesses around town.
 
According to club Vice President, Senior Organizational Psychology major Michelle Shalmiyev, the entire idea came from club President and Senior Business Management and Spanish double major, Forrest Schaffer.  Schaffer who participated in sports, like football, when he was in high school was reminiscing about a former teammate.

"I truly admired his sportsmanship, devotion, and strength on and off the field. His mother, who was a teacher's aide and softball coach, fought the battle and eventually passed away from breast cancer. To say the school was sad on the day of her passing doesn't even begin to explain the pain I saw in some classmates. The thought of breast cancer mixed with the fundraising idea of the ALS ice bucket challenge, which was very prevalent at the time, created an idea; 'bench press to raise money for breast cancer,'" said Schaffer.
 
To make this event happen, there was a lot planning from the board of the club as well as members of the club in order to ensure its success.

"A lot of the work prior to the event was done. Michelle, Forrest, and I in regards to of planning, paperwork, and advertising for the event. Once all that was set in stone our members helped by reaching out to people to either participate or sponsor them" stated Amir Hama, Senior Media Programming and Management major and Treasurer of the Powerlifting club.
 
Schaffer added, "At every stage of the process from beginning to end, there was always a hint of doubt. Maybe no one will sponsor the event, maybe no one will sign up, maybe we won't reach the $2,500 goal. After seeing the success of the event, both physically and financially, all of the doubts I had seem to be a distant memory."
 
The club currently has no plans to hold future fundraisers, according to Schaffer the club will be turning their focus to training for upcoming competitions but that doesn't rule out future endeavors to host other events like this.
 
Hama added that "With the success of Chest for Breasts it wouldn't surprise me. If not another fundraising event, we would definitely like Chest for Breast to be an annual thing."
 
Donations can still be made to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. to support this fundraiser until October 24.  If you would like to donate to help the club meet their goal please go to their fundraising page: https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fundraise?fcid=488368