The South Lakes Women’s Lacrosse Team is using their preseason training to contribute to a great cause. Yards for Yeardley is an awareness project that was started by girls on the Boston College and University of Virginia lacrosse teams to fundraise for Yeardley Love, a woman who sustained fatal injuries at the hands of her abusive boyfriend. With the help of the One Love foundation, people across the nation can sign up and start racking up yards in order to raise awareness for abusive relationships.

The goal for anyone participating in the project is to run, walk, swim, bike, or even rollerblade one million yards in a month. Although one million yards may seem like a lot, one million yards is the same as 568 miles. It gets easier if you were to get a whole team or even recruit friends to do the challenge with you. The whole concept of doing the one million yard challenge is to bring light to the dangers of domestic abuse.

Yeardley Love was a dedicated lacrosse player while attending the University of Virginia. Just three weeks before graduating in 2010, she was physically and fatally abused by one of UVA’s former men’s lacrosse players, George Huguely. When Love’s family pressed charges against Huguely, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2012. After the charges were released, people began to notice how dangerous abusive relationships are, especially on college campuses, and people wanted to start raising awareness. As word spread about the organization, lacrosse teams across the country came together and raised one million yards during their pre-season.

For anyone who would like to join the cause, go to https://www.joinonelove.org/act/yards-for-yeardley/ to find out more of how you can help.