Booster clubs raise money for activities

A+Booster+Club+member+eats+chili.+The+Football+Booster+Club+hosts+a+tailgate+before+every+home+varsity+football+game.

Emmalee Reed

A Booster Club member eats chili. The Football Booster Club hosts a tailgate before every home varsity football game.

Sarah Buehler, Assistant Sports Editor

Basketball, baseball, wrestling, football, and gymnastics—all have a booster club that help them raise money for different activities.

The booster clubs will help them pay for and set up for different activities in each sport.

The boys basketball team parents will pay a fee that varies from $15 to $30 to the booster club. They also get money from eat-out nights, a pancake breakfast, and Late Night basketball game. The amount of money they make varies from $100 to $2,000; the fundraiser profit depends on whether there are large expenses due that year.

Paula Hutton, basketball booster club president, said, “Our goal every year is to have a $500 start-up fund for the following year. We raise our money from t-shirt sales and a variety of different fundraisers.”

They spend money on sack dinners for the athletes for away games, gifts for players, Senior Night (flowers, boards, gift bags), team banquet, and any other request from the coach.

For Lady Falcons basketball and how they raise money, Lenora Gooch, girls basketball booster club president, said, “The booster club is supported by a team of parents that volunteer time and efforts to request donations and sponsorships from alumni, communities, businesses and families.”

Gooch, also said, “Each year money varies and will be used in different ways depending on the season and is most of the time used for travel expenses.”

The booster club also gets money from Late Night raffles, a fall basketball camp, T-shirt sales, and sponsorships from alumni and anonymous donors. The money is used for travel expenses for out of town tournaments, player chairs for games and uniforms.

The baseball team raises money from Royals voucher sales, ad sales, freshman service weekends and parental dues. They use the money raised to buy equipment, supplies, yard signs, hats and jerseys, meals for the banquet, and for the varsity trip to Oklahoma. Parents donate $50 to $100 to the wrestling team, and this summer they raised $500 from selling t-shirts with ads on the back. The money helps them pay for meals at meets and some gifts to clinicians who come to help out.

Kelli Potter, wrestling booster club president, said, “This year we are hoping to have enough funding to hold weekly team dinners. Parents will also volunteer to help out with meets and will make donations to the booster club.” The gymnastics booster club raises money from fundraisers and raised $800 last year. This money helps them pay for the equipment at meets, gifts at a banquet, and food catered at the banquet.

Football has a variety of options when it comes to paying booster club fees; parents pay $60 for all freshmen and sophomore football players, $75 for juniors, and the “gold” membership costs $125, which includes all of the families invited to the tailgate before games. Also for extended families and friends to attend tailgates and games there is a one-time fee of $25.

Parents volunteer to make food for the tailgate and set it up and they help take down the tailgate. They will also help with putting the tunnel up before the game.

Parents will also donate money and help at the team banquet on Nov. 8. Food is catered for the banquet. Sponsors for the football team help pay for the team meals that feed 100 players and coaches on game day. In return, the sponsors receive a full page ad in the program and a gift, and they are added to a list of sponsors on football team website.