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Boosters support SVHS programs

Fundraiser at Hanna on May 5

More than 85 percent of Sonoma Valley High School students participate in an extracurricular activity funded by the Booster Club. Our one-club model ensures that all programs have access to funding and makes it easy for supporters to contribute. We are an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization working since 1980 to sustain extracurricular activities and athletics at Sonoma Valley High School.

The 200-plus SVHS Booster Club members raise more than $160,000 each year to support not only the school’s many sports teams, but all other extracurricular activities, such as drama, band, choir, journalism, forensics, dance, yearbook, video production, ELAC, ag programs, grad night, intramurals, sports trainers, the No Name Café, California Scholarship Federation, freshman welcome, student calendars and all campus clubs and organizations.

Our direct donations have declined in the current economic climate, making us more dependent on fundraisers such as our upcoming Booster Bash, to allow us to keep contributing to and, in many cases, sustaining important extracurricular activities for SVHS students.

Traditionally, our big fundraising event is our Crab Feed, which has historically been held each winter on the night before the Super Bowl. It has been very successful and, other than direct donations, is our major source of fundraising. For many years, we held the event at the warehouse at Cline Winery. Over recent years, our costs for putting on the event have grown due to many factors, including the cost of rentals items not available at Cline, such as portable toilets, heaters, tents, tables, chairs, portable kitchen facilities as well as fluctuating crab prices.

Many parents, teachers and SVHS supporters have expressed dismay over the price of the event, which had risen to $80 a person in the past, and had
limited the ability of many people to attend. With this in mind, we contacted Hanna Boys Center last February about using its new event center, which was to be completed by the summer of 2011. The new facility had many advantages: no need for us to rent tables, chairs, heaters, etc. and the facility had restrooms and a full kitchen facility, which would allow us to lower our ticket price. Plus, we liked the idea of supporting Hanna, which has supported SVHS and the Boosters in the past. We looked forward to being able to use the new facility.

A few months later, we found out that the administration at Hanna only had one real restriction on our use of the facility: no crab or seafood. We decided the ability to use the great new facility outweighed the menu and decided to change our traditional “crab feed” to a different event, using the “new venue, new menu” concept.  We made plans for a Barbeque Tri-Tip Dinner called “Celebrating the Year of the Dragon.”

In December, we met with the event planners at Hanna, who indicated they were very concerned about whether the facility would be done in time for our planned Feb. 4 date.  We decided to move the event until March 10, after rearranging a few already-planned events at the high school. A month ago, we began publicizing the event and selling tickets. Last week, we heard from Hanna that they would not be able to obtain a use permit in time for the March 10 event. After much consultation and exploration of other options, none of which worked without considerably increasing our costs, we decided that we would really like to continue with our plans to use the new facility at Hanna. The only date that worked for both Hanna and the Booster Club was Saturday, May 5.

We hope that the community will come out to support all the many activities of the Sonoma Valley Booster Club, and the many activities we support at SVHS, by joining us on Saturday, May 5 at the new auditorium at Hanna Boys Center.  Tickets are $65 and are available online at sonomavalleyhigh.org/svhsboosters.html. Tickets can be ordered individually or as tables of 10. Anyone wishing to donate to the silent and live auction at the event can email Kathy Murphy at murchue@sbcglobal.net. For questions, call 938-5481.

The Boosters are grateful to the community for its continued support and look forward to continuing to help provide a full slate of athletic and elective endeavors at Sonoma Valley High School for many years to come. We typically meet on the first Monday of the month, at 7 p.m. in the Sonoma Valley High School library and welcome you to join us.
 

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Wendy Swanson is president of the Sonoma Valley High Booster Club.