New Athletics Group Makes Successful Start

It was a highly successful start for the town's newest community group.

After counting the checks and placing them into a small brown paper bag for deposit at the recently formed Friends of Belmont Athletics raised $12,875 at the end of its first meeting at Belmont Public Library in the effort to save freshman sports for this coming school year.

The bulk of Monday's total came from a $10,000 donation from the Belmont Boosters Club partnering with the Friends in its fundraising venture.

Two-dozen residents heard from the Friends leadership team – Ellen Sullivan, Leigh McLaughlin Lynch and John Stadler – on channeling the early enthusiasm of creating an organization from scratch into practical results.

"I just want to say how appreciative of our supporters and how we need their help even more," said Sullivan.

Yet bubbling under the surface was a festering irritation many in attendance felt towards the Belmont School Committee and what several believe has been a less than transparent manner during last week's School Committee meeting in which a suspected $75,000 surplus – some say that has risen to $85,000 on June 22 – in a revolving athletic account remained untouched.

"It needs to be answered," said Stadler, as many indicated a move in September when the School Committee meets to pressure the committee and town to reveal what funds constitute the revolving account and if the money was transferred to another account rather than being spent for athletic purposes as prescribed by town bylaw.

But the focus of the meeting, said the leadership team, was on finding the funding required to revive the sports teams many believed cancelled by the failure of the Proposition 2 1/2 override.

"We accept that's a battle that should be fought," said McLaughlin Lynch, "but not now."

Coupled with $10,000 in "seed" money to be provided by the School Committee from the revolving athletic account, the fledgling group has raised $22,875 by Monday night, nearly halfway to their goal of $52,281, which Belmont High School Athletic Director Jim Davis indicated last week would be needed to reinstate the eight freshman sports dropped after the 

And the Friends need the money now: Davis told the group it would need to raise $27,435  - or a little more than $4,000 - by August 1 to restore the four fall freshman sports: football, field hockey and boys and girls soccer.

"We are in a fire drill situation for the next two weeks," said Sullivan.

In addition to the fall sports, Davis indicated that the Friends would need to raise $10,728 by Nov. 1 for fall sports and $14,118 to reinstate sports for the spring.

The group anticipates to grow their total donations by the end of the week when the FBA meets with numerous "Friends of" organizations representing various local sports such as football, softball and swimming.

"We truly need your support to make this work," said McLaughlin Lynch.

While representatives and officials from the various Friends groups indicated their willingness to contribute to the fundraising efforts, they also stated they have their own agendas and organizations they must consider, especially in difficuit economic times.

"The questions is how it will happen," said Danielle Hanson of the 90 family strong Friends of Belmont Football on the additional money to contribute to FBA.

"We will have to decide what makes senses for use to give; what is our responsibilities to keep freshman sports in Belmont," she said.

The Friends evolved in the past two months from a small collection of parents on a Google group listserv to more than 400 supporters that convinced the School Committee to seemingly break with long-standing policy and take allow for private funds for a targeted activity.

The fundraising will supplement user fees and other School Department funds to restore the freshmen and Chenery Middle School sports programs that were slated to be eliminated this coming school year.

The partnership with Belmont Boosters appears to be a fortunate for both organizations. It will allow the Friends to work within an existing organization – the Friends are not yet registered with the state – for fundraising while the Boosters, a town institution since the 1940, can expect an influx of residents into the club that has been in decline for a number of years and is on the verge of folding.

Even if the money is raised, freshman athletes will continue to pay the $450 user fee to participate in the sport

The groups will be accepting donation checks after the meeting. The checks should be made out to "Belmont Boosters" with "Friends of Belmont Athletics" written on the memo line.

The checks should be sent to Ellen Sullivan, 15 Fairmont St., Belmont, MA 02478.