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About Our Organization
Southern School District/Arbor State Park Track Project, with the help of Southern Youth Sports, is a newly formed organization with the sole purpose of improving the community through upgrading the current track facility.
MISSION STATEMENT:
To provide an environment where students can safely practice for track and field events, host track meets and prosper from an increased level of support by family and friends.
To create a space for all to walk/jog safely other than the local streets and to promote a healthy, active lifestyle.
To stimulate the local economy as a result of holding more sporting events that will attract more visitors, increasing the dollars spent at local businesses.
We are working towards the new track. We are showing several pictures of the current track team events. We have a super exciting Junior High track team coming up that will set records. We need to get them a track to compete on and practice on to help with their success! This will also be able to be used by the community. We need your help! All previous donations have been so much appreciated. We will continue to move forward.
Here are pictures of another Southern student, Kale Maguire, that made it to the State Track meet in Omaha. The 1st photo is districts where Kale set the 4th best mark in school history in the 800 and set the 2nd best time in school history in the 1600, while also getting his second win of the day. The 2nd photo is Kale competing in Falls City in the 800 and won that race by 4 seconds. The 3rd photo is from Mudecas where Kale won his 1st 1600 and only 2nd high school win at that time. Quote from Kale "It was a tactical race, and there was still a pack of 4 or 5 with 400 to go before I managed to slowly drop them all across the last lap."
The excitement in the school and community was overwhelming. We have had state qualifiers two years in a row. The kids have to practice for competition on a gravel track or take their practices to the streets. If they would have the regulation track we are striving for, who can imagine what these athletes can do. We ask you again this year to help us reach our goal of getting this new track at Arbor State Park. It will not only benefit our local athletes, but also give our community members a safe place to walk/run.
With the inflation as it has been, our project price has increased considerably. Yet, we are determined to see this through. We have a long ways to go but with your help, we can make it happen. We are currenly sitting at $150,000 so you know we have a long ways to go.
At the State Track meet this year, Southern had a 3 time gold medalist Connor Bradley. As you can see in the video, this was a very exciting time for him as well as the Southern community. The entire community was behind him in his adventure. We are working hard to complete this track for athletes just like him. Southern has some very talented athletes coming up in the next few years and this track would help them practice and achieve the same thing Connor did. The new track will be regulation so we will be able to host track meets here. This will also benefit the community as it will be open to the public for walking and running.
We will continue to work for the track as long as it takes. We are writing grants to help with the process. We can ask for the amount of money that we have raised. So far that amount is $120,000. The next grant that is due will be after the Big Give Gage Day. So any money donated to this day could potentially be tripled by the next 2 grants we are working on. If we get the first grant, that will double our amount we have and then we can ask for that doubled amount in the next grant. Ex: We will ask for $120,000 for the 1st grant. If awarded, we will have a total of $240,000. The next grant we can ask for the $240,000 to end up with potentially $480,000 fairly quickly. If you are considering donating to the track, now would be a great time. We do get some matching funds from the Big Give corporate donors and all of that could be used toward our grant matches.
We are excited to be moving on with the construction phase of the track. We have plans made for the project and are working to raise the money to complete the regulation size track & field.
Our sole purpose is to improve the community through upgrading the current track facility that is located at the Arbor State Park, surrounding the Southern High School football field. The upgrade would include a regulation track for school and community use. This would provide opportunities for the school to host district and conference track meets each year. It would also provide a safe facility for patrons to walk and run. The current condition of the track does not allow for track athletes and patrons to use the facility when there has been any precipitation.
Since we began this project in January of 2019, we have raised $80,000. We have solicited donations, written grants and done several fundraisers. We have been very involved in the community and have taken on alot of community events to help with our fundraising. Just a few of the fundraising events we have done are: Shirley Mae Volleyball tournament, Youth Basketball Tournaments, participate in the Amazon Smile Program (use Southern Youth Sports), 3 on3 basketball, Sam Wymore Days events, Egg My Yard, Hanging Flags in our community, taking Southern Sports admissions, Community Appreciation Treasure Hunt, created our own cookbook, selling Raider Gear, collecting Sunmart Receipts, collecting Best Choice labels, along with other fundraising opportunities that come up.
We are thankful for such a great community that is coming together to see this project through! We have a ways to go to get to our goal, but we will continue to work together and this project will become a reality.
Our sole purpose is to improve the community through upgrading the current track facility that is located at the Arbor State Park, surrounding the Southern High School football field. The upgrade would include a regulation track for school and community use. This would provide opportunities for the school to host district and conference track meets each year. It would also provide a safe facility for patrons to walk and run. The current condition of the track does not allow for track athletes and patrons to use the facility when there has been any precipitation. You can see in the photos and the video the current condition of the track. You can also see that the student athletes have to run in the street to practice or travel out of town. This new facility will also eliminate the current track team from traveling to surrounding communities to utilize their facilities for event practices.
Your donations will benefit this project tremendously. The total project cost is estimated at $1.1 million. The project has received 2 grants for the project so far. The track committee and community members are passionate and dedicated to making this project succeed. This track will be completed, its just a matter of how much time it will take to raise the money to make it happen. There have been many successful fundraisers as well as generous donations for this project. We are in need of matching funds to apply for more grants. All money raised will be used strictly for the Track project. The more money we have available for matching funds, the more we can ask for in grants. Our goal amount for Big Give Day is $15,000, but as you can see we need alot more to complete this project. If we could surpass our goal, we would be close to $80,000. This is huge for grant writing.
The community has been overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts and will make this happen. #raiderpride
Thanks to all for believing in this!!
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