Junior Quarterback David Fajgenbaum Earns Community Service Awards from Georgetown

CONTACT: Mike “Mex” Carey (202-687-2475)

Washington, D.C. – Georgetown University junior football player David Fajgenbaum (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft) had a busy month of April. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for the Hoya quarterback.

When he was not finishing spring practices with the Georgetown football team under the direction of first year head coach Kevin Kelly, Fajgenbaum was going to class and taking care of school work as he works to maintain a grade-point average of more than 3.8 in his pre-med studies. And when he wasn’t practicing, going to class or doing lab or homework, he was helping out with any number of activities for the support group he formed within the last year.

Fajgenbaum was one of 20 Georgetown University students recognized on Saturday, April 29 for his community service work as a result of the progress made by his organization, Students of AMF. The moniker – which stands for Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers – is in honor of his mother, Anne Marie, who passed away from brain cancer in October 2004. The goal of the Students of AMF Support Network (www.studentsofamf.org) is to help students to cope with the psychological, spiritual, social, and academic difficulties associated with having a sick loved one through service, support, and mentoring.

The recipients of the Lena Landegger Community Service Award will be presented with $2,500 for their distinguished contributions to community service. The annual awards were created in the honor of the late Lena Landegger by the Landegger Charitable Foundation, and provide an opportunity for Georgetown to celebrate and honor its deep commitment to and tradition of community service. “I always thought you did community service without being recognized and without getting an award for it,” Fajgenbaum said, “but this is a tremendous honor. The award will be a great boost toward one of our projects.”

This is one of two awards that the junior signal caller was honored with this week, as Fajgenbaum was chosen as a 2006 Lisa J. Raines Summer Scholar. The summer scholar is presented a $5,000 research grant, which he will use this summer to study bereavement by college students. “The research grant will be so helpful,” he said. “It will allow me to compare what other schools do for bereavement counseling across the country. I’ll be able to find out what is available to students and can really back up my experience.

“Students of AMF has really just been a support group to this point. This will be put more of a concrete validation on the program that we’ve done here. It’s really been a problem-solving experience – does this program work, does this not work – but now we’ll have theories behind them and we can identify specific problems and work to resolve them for students who’ve lost loved ones.”

Fajgenbaum, who has organized events on campus, has received support from both his teammates and the coaching staff. “To have Coach Kelly be so supportive is great,” he said. “All of the coaches have been great. They think it’s important to be involved and they’ve encouraged guys to come out and they’ve done the same.”

Students of AMF, which was named as the University’s “Outstanding Direct Service Program,” has also received a grant from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to become incorporated as a non-profit organization. The program was recognized by UNC as the Director of Outreach for the Students of AMF, Benjamin Chesson, is a student there, and a high school classmate of Fajgenbaum.

The support group, which is now reaching out at the high school level and has begun programs locally at Georgetown Prep, is in the process of developing a partnership with National Brain Tumor Foundation. Fajgenbaum is also planning to conduct the second annual Boot Camp 2 Beat Cancer/AMF (A Morning of Fitness), which will be held on May 20, and a Banquet for AMF, which will be held on May 21 in Raleigh, North Carolina to raise money for the National Brain Tumor Foundation and Students of AMF.

“It’s amazing how this has grown," he said. “In October 2004, I told my mom I was going to do it. Two months later, we had 100 kids on campus who were involved and by the end of the semester, it had grown to over 300 people.

“I talk to my sisters about it everyday. Every time they talk about AMF they say, ‘Look at what you and mom are doing.’ It’s really been a way for her life to continue. I know in my heart that she loves this. She was everyone’s mom when I was growing up and she’s staying that way now.”


Mike "Mex" Carey

Sports Information Director

Georgetown University

McDonough Arena

Washington, D.C. 20057

Phone: 202-687-2475

website: www.guhoyas.com