TROUT CREEK -- Each of the sports teams at Ewen-Trout Creek, like basketball, volleyball, and football, now do some fundraising on their own, but the booster club steps in to help with the larger expenses.
"As far as the football program, we have a five-man blocking sled that we're not able to use because we have three broken springs, which cost around $100 a piece to replace," said ETC Teacher/Coach, Larry Maki. "And those are the types of things the booster club should be helping out with, not raising money to pay the coaching salaries."
The booster club was originally formed in the '70s to pay for things the school couldn't normally afford. Nowadays, they hold monthly meetings and at least 12 fundraisers a year.
"We'd spend about eight to ten thousand dollars on athletics prior to when we took over funding everything," said ETC Booster Club President, Shawn Brown. "Our capabilities to fundraise is about twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars a year."
This year, the school had a nine-game football schedule. In an effort to cut costs, transportation to and from those games was provided by dedicated parents instead of asking the school to send buses.
"Athletics is very important to the education of our kids. It teaches them things that cannot be taught in the classroom: hard work, discipline, dedication. It makes them a better, all-around, person. There aren't a lot of things for kids to do after school; they need something to be a part of," Brown concluded.
Representatives from the booster club say they want to continue working with the school to fund sports as long as they need to but hope the school could eventually regain district funding and resume contributing to some part of the athletic budget.
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