About 20 years ago, a booster club helped raise money for the community’s youth athletics, but the organization has since shut down. Now, a new fundraising organization is about to step up to support student athletes — the Wrangell Athletic Club (WAC).
The club will raise money for elementary, middle and high school sports and activities, independent of the school district, explained high school cross country coach Mason Villarma, who is leading the planning effort. Parents, coaches and community members who want to get involved can attend the planning meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, in the old gym.
At the meeting, the organization will establish a five-person board and draft articles of incorporation to apply for nonprofit status. Fifteen community members and athletic coaches have already expressed interest in serving as board members.
The WAC will not replace the school’s own fundraising efforts. Instead, it is “meant to supplement what is already there and try to expand on offerings,” said Villarma. The club plans to support “different tournaments, maybe in state and out of state, better gear, and just get more community involvement for events.”
It will also prioritize equitable funding allocations across all sports.
Preliminary plans for the WAC include a tiered sponsorship structure, allowing families and community members to decide how much they can regularly contribute. It will also host an annual banquet at the Nolan Center, honoring athletes’ achievements and raising money for activities in the coming year.
Once it’s an official nonprofit, the WAC will also seek a state gaming permit to host fundraising raffles and sell pull-tabs.
Villarma plans to bring his accounting background to bear on the organization’s financial practices. His goal is to make the club “super transparent about everything we want to do,” he said. “There’s a stigma around booster clubs that they’re often mismanaged. … We want to have this thing airtight with good board management oversight, dual signership on everything” and segregation of duties so that no one person can authorize expenditures without board approval.
Once the club is up and running, he hopes to release a monthly newsletter detailing the club’s fundraising activities and breaking down exactly what the money is being used for.
Thanks in part to years of flat state funding that have slashed the district’s buying power, “athletics and activity funding has not been a priority in recent years for the school district,” he said. “We’re looking to bridge that gap and really support youth activities to the best degree that we possibly can” and “promote a successful environment for athletics to thrive.”
School district spending for student travel is budgeted this year at $70,000, a significant drop from the actual spending of $106,000 in the past school year and $96,000 the year before that. Funding concerns have forced coaches, particularly in early season sports, to cancel meets at the last minute. The district also has increased student fees for state travel by $50 this year.
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