|
|
Friday, March 28, 2008
|
|
GAME-SAVING EFFORT Warrior Way Inc. reaches minimum goal for rescuing school sports Staff Writers They - no, you - did it.
Pick your favorite sports clichˇ. They hit a game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning; scored a last-second, game-winning touchdown; won the race at the wire.
Any way you phrase it, the Brainerd Warriors have much to celebrate.
Warrior Way Inc. committee members announced Thursday that they have reached their minimum goal of raising $220,000 to help save all high school and middle level sports and many activities within the Brainerd School District. The funds will help offset participation fees for students and their families who can't afford them next year as a result of the necessary $860,000 budget cuts in activities and athletics for the 2008-09 school year.
But WWI committee members are quick to point out that this is not the end, but only the beginning for WWI. The $220,000 was a minimum goal they had to reach in order for the district to consider the organization's financial assistance, and additional funds are needed to sustain the new funding model for sports/activities in the district.
P.J. Smith, a WWI committee member, said committee members didn't anticipate reaching their goal until after the weekend and just before their Wednesday deadline, but he said several larger donations came in this week, allowing them to inform school administrators Thursday of the results of their successful fund drive.
Brainerd Superintendent Jerry Walseth said he and other administrators will recommend to the School Board Curriculum Committee at its 11:30 a.m. Wednesday meeting that they implement Plan B, which allows the district to retain all 29 Minnesota State High School League sports, six high school activities and 17 middle school sports, instead of cutting all middle school sports and all but 12 high school sports and three activities.
Under the funding model, students still will need to raise $100,000 in fundraising activities and student participation fees will increase to about $380 per high school sport, from $80, and $190 per middle school sport, from $50.
"First of all, I'm just thankful that some absolutely wonderful members of our community took on that challenge," Walseth said. "I'm thankful our community has responded to that challenge and I'm deeply grateful to both our community and the Warrior Way Inc. board and participants for doing a wonderful job on behalf of kids, which is what it's about. It's pretty neat."
"Obviously, we're extremely pleased with the result of WWI raising their funds," BHS Activities Director Todd Selk said. "It will enable us to offer programs similar to what we have this year, and that means opportunities for young kids to be involved in their schools.
"We're also very thankful for the efforts of WWI. Kind of a side benefit of this endeavor is the relationship building that happened with WWI representatives and district administration. That's a positive piece for us as well. Working relationships have been established. We look forward to those relationships growing, with more ways and ideas where we can work together."
Brian Skogen, a WWI committee member, said the group has received a "substantial outpouring" of support since the school district's March 11 listening session on athletics/activities reductions, which allowed them to reach the minimum goal.
"I can't stress enough how broad-based our support has been," Skogen said. "We were not saved by someone riding in on a white horse and coming in with a check for $220,000. What's gratifying is seeing how the community on the whole rallied around what the objective was, and that's to continue to provide a broad base of activities so kids going through the system have the opportunity to have choices and the opportunity to succeed."
Smith said the largest donation was $15,000. They also received some $10,000 donations, but most came in increments of $100, $300, $500 and $1,000. He said contributors likely will number more than 500.
"We still have plenty of work to do," Smith said.
He said the committee now must work with school administrators to work out the details for this sports/activities funding model and how students will receive the funds. The group's long-term goal is creating an endowment fund, which will require ongoing fundraising. He said committee members are working on plans for upcoming fundraising events to sustain WWI. He said the effort was successful because of the many skilled people who helped with the project.
"There are a lot of very good people in the Brainerd community and there's a tremendous amount of talent as well, and I really think if the community and school district can continue to creatively work on the problems the school district is facing right now, that jointly between the talent in the community and talent within the school district, we can make a lot of progress for solving other problems as well," Smith said. "It's almost like it was meant to be the way the group came together and worked hard to make this thing work."
Not just adults have stepped up to raise funds to save school sports and activities. March 14 was "Hat Day" at Forestview Middle School and Baxter Elementary, and for a $1 donation, students and staff members were allowed to wear hats, with all proceeds going to WWI. Forestview fifth- through eighth-graders raised $964.30 and Baxter students raised $279. On Friday, Riverside students planned to sponsor a school walk-a-thon, walking for one hour, with all pledges going toward WWI. Students were asked to bring at least a $1 donation for the walk-a-thon.
BHS Senior Class Cabinet members recently voted to donate the remaining funds they have to WWI, which is more than $3,000. Each year cabinet members donate leftover funds they raised during their annual fundraising efforts to the underclassmen, whether it be used to buy outdoor picnic tables for the courtyard or to donate to the elementary schools.
"We knew as the senior class cabinet members we would leave a gift and we wanted to do something," said Sadie Panzer, a BHS Senior Class Cabinet member. "We knew with the (failed) referendum we wouldn't be affected and our class would stay the same, but we felt we wanted the classes coming up to have the same opportunities as we did and not to miss out on those chances.
"It's terrible to say this, but we're lucky to be getting out. We've seen some of the changes. The new registration guides came out and we saw how much different it's going to be. It's going to be very different for the juniors and sophomores who had all the opportunities but now won't have them anymore."
"We were originally planning on landscaping outside the doors to the gyms and the gymnastic doors because every year seniors do a senior gift to give back to the school," said Mary Petersen, BHS Senior Class Cabinet president. "But we brought up the idea that maybe we should give our money to Warrior Way as our senior gift and give all the underclassmen the gift of being able to do their sports again."
BHS students also plan to host "Hat Day" on Friday - a $1 donation will allow students and staff members to wear hats during school - with all proceeds going to WWI.
Another group, Music Matters, is raising funds to save the 2.25 music teaching positions being eliminated, which will affect music at all levels in the school district. As of March 22, committee members have raised $23,370 toward their goal of $100,000 that needs to be reached by April 15. For more information, see the Web site at www.brainerdmusicmatters.org.
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
To Subscribe to the Brainerd Dispatch, Click Here.
Note: Comments are not edited and don't represent the views of The Brainerd Dispatch. Please read our posting rules in the terms of service policy. To report a post that may be inappropriate, click the triangle alert icon.
|
|
|
|
Thinking about a New Job?
These employers want you!
|
Loading...
|
|
|
Today's Best Classifieds:
|
|
|
|
|
|
