SU's Cans for Cancer Drive Receives a Celebrity Boost

SALISBURY, MD---It helps to have friends in high places.

Salisbury University’s “Cans for Cancer” drive recently received a boost from Sunkist’s “Friends With Benefit” tour featuring the cast of the WB television program One Tree Hill. The tour promotes sales of the One Tree Hill soundtrack, proceeds from which benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

SU student Elizabeth Sankbeil, who heads the Salisbury-wide Cans for Cancer drive with roommates Audie Smith and Britt Johnson, attended the tour at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, MD, and noticed hundreds of young people in attendance with soda cans. That’s when inspiration struck.

“While we were among hundreds of heart-throbbing teenagers, I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to collect cans for Cans for Cancer,” she said.

Tour officials agreed, even offering bags for the impromptu collection. The project garnered attention throughout the mall as One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton announced the collection on Sankbeil’s behalf. The announcement even made the WB’s online promotional video, available for viewing at http://thewb.warnerbros.com/sunkist/tourvideo3.html.

“We were pretty excited,” Sankbeil said. “Little did I expect this tiny project Audie and I created would get so much attention!”

Money made from recycling the collected cans counts toward Relay For Life donations made by the SU Fishing Club team. SU’s 2006 Relay For Life event to benefit the American Cancer Society is 6 p.m. Friday, April 21-6 a.m. Saturday, April 22, at the SU intramural fields on Wayne Street.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu. "