Although there is a Chargers Club to fundraise for sports teams, Charger teams continue their own annual fundraisers as well as participating in creative, new fundraisers.
One new fundraiser this year is the men and women’s track and field teams’ upcoming Valentine’s Day dinner on Saturday, Feb. 16. Tickets to attend the dinner cost $50 and it will be catered by Saga, Incorporated and held in the Curtiss Dining Hall. Along with the meal, there will be a silent auction, live music, a 50/50 raffle, and a reverse raffle.
Each member of the track and field team had to sell at least two tickets and all the members will be selling raffle tickets during the dinner.
“It’s a really great way for us to develop more connections and network with people, and it’s a chance for us to thank people for their support,” senior captain Erin Benjamin said.
Women’s track and field head coach Andrew Towne is excited about the dinner and hopes to make it an annual event.
“We started this as a way to foster some more long term development for our program. We wanted something where people who donate to the program could get involved,” Towne said. “Also, it ended up falling on Valentine’s Day weekend, so it’s great for a guy who plans late.”
The Valentine’s Day dinner fundraiser was modeled after the men’s basketball team’s annual reverse raffle fundraiser, athletic director Don Brubacher said.
The basketball team’s reverse raffle happens every September and is one of the longest-running and most successful fundraisers in the athletic department, Brubacher said.
In a reverse raffle, the participants buy their raffle tickets at the beginning of the event, and throughout the night, tickets are pulled out. The last three tickets are the prize-winning tickets.
The women’s track and field team will also be starting an alumnae fundraising club modeled after the football team’s Gridiron Club, a group of alumni Charger football players who fundraise throughout the football seasons.
An annual fundraiser that the Charger football players look forward to this semester is the Liftathon on Mar. 10 in the Roche Sports Complex.
Head football coach Keith Otterbein was an assistant coach during the first Liftathon in 1980 and he said that the fundraiser’s form has evolved since the first one. Where the team used to compete in bench-press, they now do power cleans.
Each player is responsible for raising $200 in pledges in either flat-rate donations or by having the donor pledge a dollar amount for every pound they lift. On Mar. 10, each of the players will compete in different weight classes to win a trophy and the competition is open for anyone to watch.
Jared Veldheer ’10 still holds the record for most weight lifted from the spring 2009 Liftathon, where he power-cleaned 425 lbs.
The swim team also uses the sports complex to host fundraising events.
The swim team has about six Kid’s Nights per semester where they open the gym and the pool to kids. The swim team charges $8 for three hours of play time.
“Typically around 50 to 60 kids come. It helps team bonding because we all do it together and we always get some laughs from it,” junior captain Becca Remmes said.
In addition, most of the sports teams use their fellow Chargers’ games as a chance to fundraise.
“Many of the teams are involved in working the concession stand for a portion of profits made, parking during home games, and cleaning up after games,” Brubacher said.
The volleyball team runs the concession stand for many of the men’s home basketball games, senior captain Lauren Grover said.
The volleyball team also has larger fundraisers, including a golf outing in Jackson, Mich. in June, volleyball clinics for girls fifth through 11th grade in the spring, and a summer camp exclusively for high school girls in July.
Right now the team’s efforts are going towards funding a trip to Europe, Grover said.
Grover stressed the importance of fundraising as a student athlete.
“I think fundraising helps us appreciate everything that goes into making our experience as a college athlete better,” Grover said. “It’s a privilege to be a college athlete, so we need to put work into the program to make it as good as possible.”
