CORTLAND, N.Y. - The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Student- Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has partnered yet again with the One Love Foundation to raise awareness about the warning signs of domestic abuse and activate communities across the conference to work to change statistics around relationship violence. Throughout the next few weeks, SAAC representatives from each of the 10 SUNYAC athletic departments, along with other SUNY institutions, will be working on developing their own Yards for Yeardley event on each of their campuses with the hopes of reaching SUNY's goal of walking Around the World for Yeardley.

On May 3, 2010, Yeardley Love of the University of Virginia women's lacrosse team was brutally beaten to death by her former boyfriend who was a member of the men's lacrosse team.  Since that fatal day, Sharon Love, Yeardley's mother has developed the One Love Foundation in response to her tragic loss to raise awareness about the consequences of relationship violence. Through the use of workshops on college campuses, including an app individuals can download, the foundation has created innovative ways to make people aware of this important issue. 

College campuses are also contributing to this cause and the effort to raise awareness about relationship violence. One way that they are doing this is through the Yards for Yeardley campaign. This campaign challenges student-athletes and campus communities from around the country to attempt to walk, run, bike, swim, in Yeardley's memory. 

Last year the ten SUNYAC campuses came together with a goal of 10 million yards to honor Yeardley Love. These ten schools shattered their goal with a total of 25.7 million yards in just 10 days!  

After it's first campaign the SUNYAC has set its goal for the upcoming year to walk around the world. To put this total into perspective the circumference of the earth is roughly 43 million yards. With that being said, SUNYAC SAAC plans to go around the world and then some for Yeardley while bringing communities together and creating a spark that can save lives along the way. 

When asked about the events and what it means to him, SAAC President Ben Chatley from Fredonia stated, "This event and campaign has shown how a topic as difficult as domestic violence and relationship abuse can pull together not only students, but entire schools across New York State. It shows how invested the SUNY system and its subsequent member institutions are in eradicating domestic violence on college campuses not only in New York but across the nation. This event is about more than one school competing against another; it is an opportunity for us all to push back against relationship violence on each of our campuses and have us be declared the victors. I am ecstatic to see exactly what the participating schools, especially the SUNYAC, can do throughout this month long campaign and cannot wait to celebrate when we officially walk Around the World for Yeardley!"

Cortland will be kicking off this year's campaign for Around the World for Yeardley on Sunday, April 15, 2018. 

Don't forget to Tweet, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat your photos and videos from this event.  Use the hashtags #OneSUNYOneLove, #sunyacsaac, #onelove, and #sunyonelove. 

Join us as we walk, run, skip, and hope Around the World for Yeardley!

Here is a full list of dates for each member institution's AWFY event.