Swinney Asks Clemson Fans to Help Clemson Employees in Time of Need

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Apr 08 20:53:22 GMT-04:00 2009

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney walked off the practice field on Wednesday, and instead of talking about the offensive line or quarterback situation, asked that the media help spread the word on something he says is important to a tight-knit Clemson community.

Swinney said that he is asking all Tiger fans to make donations to the One Clemson Furlough Relief Fund at the Spring Football Game this Saturday, April 11. The game is free, and will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the Memorial Stadium gates opening at 11:00 a.m. Fans can make donations in “All In” barrels as they enter the stadium gates.

“We are very blessed in football in the things that we are able to do,” Swinney said. “However, this is a tough time for a lot of people, so one of things for this Saturday is I am going to have someone at every gate with an “All In” bucket. As the fans come in, we are asking them to donate a quarter, or 50 cents, or a dollar, or two dollars. And we are going to take that and donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the Furlough Fund.

“We have a lot of people on this campus who are making minimum wage, and when you get furloughed for five days, that is a big deal. We have the Furlough Fund so they can apply for help in this difficult time. They can use your help.”

The purpose of the One Clemson Furlough Relief Fund is to support those Clemson University employees who face the most severe financial hardship due to the loss of pay from the mandatory five-day furlough announced by the University in November of 2008 for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Swinney also said that he would like to see the Clemson Spring Game attendance record “shattered” on Saturday.

“I am first challenging all Clemson fans to come to Death Valley this Saturday to break the Spring Game attendance record,” said Swinney. “The record is 20,000 and it should be a great day to come to Clemson with all the campus activities. I want to challenge our fans to come out and support this team in the spring game. With the support we have here at Clemson, we should be able to shatter that.”