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Post-override CHS Booster Club
seeks 'return to normalcy'
By Mike Berger
Citizen Staff
Thanks to
last year’s successful override vote, the newly formed Canton
High School Athletic Booster Club can now get out of the
business of saving sports through a massive, emergency
fundraising effort, and settle into the role it was originally
designed for.
“We’re out
of the rescue mode and into one of promoting our sports,” said
Booster Club President John Sheehan, referring to last year’s
Save Our Sports campaign, in which every penny of the more than
$180,000 raised went toward reducing athletics user fees that
had climbed as high as $495 per athlete per sport.
 Although the
fee was nearly cut in half after months of soliciting donations
from individuals and businesses, this year’s fee, through
restorative funding provided by the override, was significantly
reduced even further to a more manageable $100 per sport, with a
family cap of $400.
“Last year
the kids had to worry if there were going to be sports in the
future,” Sheehan said. “This year is an effort to return to more
normalcy. You will see the return to team award dinners and
Bulldog T-shirts and jackets. Instead of Save Our Sports, it’s
Support Our Sports.”
Sheehan said
other Massachusetts communities, such as Mansfield and Weston,
have had great success using a unified booster club umbrella
organization, and he is convinced that this is the best method
of helping to boost Canton sports.
He said the
three main goals of the booster club this year are to support
all CHS athletics programs through the purchase of equipment or
other supplies; ensure that each sport at CHS is represented
fairly; and promote school spirit.
Sheehan
believes that running the booster club as one entity will be
more efficient and will allow the boosters to raise more money
than they were able to under the old system, in which separate
booster clubs fundraised only for their individual sports. By
combining their efforts, he said, it raises the likelihood that
all programs will benefit from the extra equipment and supplies
that are not allocated in the budget.
Besides last
year’s successful drive to save CHS athletics, the group was
also able to achieve a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, which will
enable individuals or businesses to take a tax deduction if
donations are made to the booster club.
On the CHS
sports website (www.cantonma.org/chs/athletics), Sheehan writes:
“This year, thanks to the passage of the override, we have a new
goal — one that is more in line with what a booster club should
be about. We will be raising money to help support all of our
athletic programs and student athletes. Part of our ongoing
mission will be to recognize and reward students for
participation in Canton High athletics. The Booster Club will
also be there to provide the financial support that is needed to
make these programs so successful.”
Sheehan was
also pleased to announce that season banquets, award dinners,
individual T-shirts and jackets will be back after a one-year
hiatus. The difference is that there will not be individual
boosters, but one group where the goal is fair representation
for all sports at Canton High.
The CHS
Athletic Booster Club was formerly organized last June with a
president and a board of officers. Elections will be held
annually, most likely toward the end of the CHS sports season in
June.
But Sheehan
said the club will be driven by parents, with full participation
urged and parent representation in every sport. Coaches will
also be urged to attend booster club meetings and offer their
input, and Danny Erickson, CHS athletics director and liaison
with the school’s central office and School Committee, will also
participate in the meetings.
In addition
to Sheehan, club officers elected in June include: Tom Winchell
as vice president; Alan Hines, treasurer; Carol Duggan,
secretary; Julie Malloy, membership coordinator; and Kym White,
fundraising coordinator.
Two
fundraising events that are already in the planning stages
include a Comedy Night and an Athletic Walk-A-Thon. Booster club
meetings will be held monthly, and further information on the
boosters, as well as CHS sports news and schedules, will be
available on the CHS athletics homepage.
Erickson is
also planning a parent information night sometime in the early
fall.
August 28, 2008
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