Belgreen attains funding for new volleyballs through DonorsChoose
When Belgreen Coach Teresa Whitten realized her volleyball team needed new volleyballs, she turned to donorschoose.org, a crowdfunding site specifically for school projects.
That seems to have been a wise decision. The project was posted Feb. 20, and five donations later, March 9, the project was fully funded.
“Because we are a small, low-income community, we do not generate funding like many of the nearby schools. We are only allowed one fundraiser a year, so it is hard for us to purchase a lot of needed items such as new volleyballs,” Whitten explained in the project description. “New balls will help the athletes in training and in matches. We are playing and hosting multiple tournaments for their first time, so new balls will be so helpful to the program. By funding our new balls, what other funding we get will help with training equipment and transportation costs.”
Local donations came in for the $985 request, as well as one donation from a couple in California and a crucial corporate math.
“Dick’s helped out by matching anyone’s donation, so it did not take long to meet the required amount with such generosity from our friends near and far,” Whitten said. The volleyball program will be able to purchase 15 new balls from Dick’s Sporting Goods, which will help replace the current balls, which are “over six years old, and some are coming apart,” Whitten said.
The total donation also covers a portion that goes to DonorsChoose to continue funding goals and projects for schools around the nation.
The successful fundraiser isn’t the only action going on in the offseason for Belgreen volleyball. Two weeks ago the program hosted a mini-camp for girls in 2nd through 6th grade and those who have never played volleyball “to learn the basic fundamentals of volleyball,” Whitten explained. “This year we had 12 girls to come to the camp. We worked on passing skills as well as the techniques for setting, serving and hitting.”
