St. Joseph-Ogden High School changed the way it did athletic fundraisers in 2015 and continued with the winning formula this year.
Instead of each athletic program running their own fundraiser and selling everything from cookie dough to coupon books, all student-athletes participate in one fundraiser.
Each student-athlete is given 11 tickets to sell. The tickets cost $30. The athletes could turn in their sold tickets on Aug. 22, Aug. 29, Aug. 31 and Sept. 5.
“Most of the athletes sold all 11 of their tickets,” said Athletic Director Justin Franzen. “I think the students did a great job, and we cannot thank all of the community members enough for buying tickets for this fundraiser.”
The purchasers of the tickets are entered into 10 cash drawings.
Drawings will be done on Sept. 13 at the soccer game vs. St. Thomas More, on Sept. 22 at the Spartan Classic, Oct. 2 when volleyball takes on Unity, Oct. 19 when football closes out its regular season against Monticello, Nov. 29 when girls basketball takes on Danville, Dec. 1 at the wrestling multi-quad, Jan. 11 as boys basketball takes on T-town, April 8 when baseball and softball host Rantoul, April 26 during the boys Spartan Classic and May 3 during the girls Spartan Classic.
Susan Cotter’s son Austin participated in the fundraiser for the first time this year.
“Austin is a freshman so this fundraising activity is all new to us,” she said. “I prefer one fundraiser versus multiple ones.”
Cotter said she wished the grade school and middle school would consider doing a similar fundraiser because families can become overwhelmed by having to do multiple fundraisers a year.
“You not only have school fundraisers but also fundraisers for outside activities,” Cotter said.
Cotter said they mainly sold tickets to family and a few friends.
“We didn’t go door to door at all,” she said.
Twenty percent of the total sales will be given away in prizes. During each drawing seven winning tickets will be drawn meaning a total of 70 cash prizes will be given away.
“I cannot thank our students, parents, coaches, administration and Fan Club members enough for everything they were a part of in this fundraising process,” Franzen said. “This is our one and only fundraiser for the school year and everyone knows this at the start of the year.”
