In the recent Yoplait Save Lids to Save Lives campaign, a small but determined group of students and staff members at Millsaps pulled together to gather more than 8,000 pink yogurt carton lids for the benefit of breast cancer research. The effort represented the largest team donation nationwide in the annual awareness and fund raising campaign.

With the help of the Millsaps team and others like it, Yoplait collected 7.5 million lids, worth $750,000 for breast cancer research. The company matched these funds with other donations to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for a total $1.5 million to advance research, education, screening and treatment for breast cancer.

"I think the motivation behind most people's participation in the project was that it was an easy way to help someone else," said David Norris, a senior from Gautier who participated in the project. "I'm really glad for all the support the project received on our campus and across the nation. I think that just about everyone on campus helped out in one way or another, whether by cleaning out the lid bucket, helping to count lids or just eating yogurt."

For the past three years, Yoplait has supported the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation through its Save Lids to Save Lives promotion, which donates 10 cents to breast cancer research for each pink Yoplait lid redeemed. Many of the students involved in this year's effort participated in a similar project for last year's competition. Last year, the Millsaps donation of lids was the second largest nationwide.

"Our goal this year was to collect 5,000 lids," said Terri Camp, Millsaps AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator, "which we felt was a realistic goal. We were surprised, though, when we met our goal by the end of October, with several weeks still remaining in the campaign. There was a lot of momentum from last year. From the onset, we had great participation from the students."

An independent group of Millsaps students worked through the AmeriCorps office to register with Yoplait and begin the on-campus campaign. Lids were collected from September until early December, and the students were responsible for washing, counting and bagging the lids, which were then shipped to project headquarters. Individual students assumed responsibility for certain weeks throughout the semester. Cafeteria workers at the Millsaps dining hall also pitched in, saving discarded lids from trays.

"Thanks to the large amounts of funding that breast cancer research has received, treatments have greatly improved in recent years," Norris said. "I believe that it is completely possible for a cure to be found if the funding can be kept high."