News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Racking up fundraising dollars has become as critical as racking up points for Sisters Outlaws athletic programs. In fact, if teams don't win in the fundraising arena, they won't even make it to the field or court.
In an effort to streamline and enhance the potential of fundraising efforts, Sisters' new Athletic Director Tim Roth is developing a program called "Outlaws Together." The first Outlaws Together bingo night was held October 8 and deemed a success, with an expected net of about $3,000, which will be spread across all high school athletics programs.
All the sports are invited to participate and share in the proceeds of the four bingo nights that are scheduled. It's a step toward pulling fundraising together to make it more efficient and less of a burden on a heavily tapped business base in Sisters.
"There aren't enough businesses in this town to get hit by the soccer team, then the football team, then the volleyball team, then the basketball team," Roth acknowledged.
The program doesn't prevent teams from doing fundraisers, but Roth is encouraging them to contribute to the Outlaws Together pot.
"Cheerleaders did a 50/50 raffle and threw all of the funds into the Outlaws Together pot," Roth said. A volleyball team fundraising raffle featuring a prize of a trip to a San Francisco 49ers game is contributing 10 percent and winter sports' gold card fundraiser will contribute 20 percent.
The concept of program-wide fundraising has broad appeal to a sense of enlightened self-interest, since many Outlaws are multisport athletes. The effort is aimed at helping all those involved to recognize that the entire athletics program must be supported by everyone, especially in a time of severe budget restrictions.
Roth hopes that the program will improve Outlaws fundraising practices and serve to reinforce a lesson Outlaws learn on the playing field: "You're going to be way more powerful as a team than you are as an individual."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)