The organizers established this as a fun holiday weekend activity that would bring families and friends together on Lake Rabun. But the good time has serious and meaningful purpose. Proceeds go to the Lake Rabun Foundation, which helps fund many local charities including F.A.I.T.H., the Rabun County Humane Society, the Rabun County Library and the Lakemont-Wiley Volunteer Fire Department.
But the lion’s share of the LRA Foundation money goes to the Lake Rabun Fund Scholarship Program. Since its inception in 1987, the Fund has helped 59 Rabun County high school seniors attend college. Scholarship recipients receive $2,000 toward tuition bills or other costs each year for all four years of college. They are chosen based on academic performance and financial need from Rabun County High School, and more recently, the Rabun Gap Nacoochee School.
Last year, six students got scholarships to help them foot the bills at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Emory, Young Harris and Hampden-Sydney College.
Last year, after paying expenses, the race cut a $13,000 check to the Lake Rabun Foundation. The sustained success of this race will make it possible to help even more deserving students.
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