“This is my first year (as president) so I’m trying to take it a step above what we did last year, and if we keep doing that, the club will be amazing in a couple of years,” Parker stated.
There are around seven or eight members of the booster club as of now, and one of their goals is to increase support from parents and the North Garland community. Since they are responsible for providing the football team with the things they need to be successful, it is imperative to continuously gain membership, volunteers, and communication throughout the school.
“We are trying to make the communication between the school and the players better than it has been in the past,” Parker said.
One of the ways the booster club plans on bridging the gap between the school and the Raider football team is through social media. Parker has been upping her game on the booster club’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and even created a SnapChat profile to be more interactive with the community.
“We promote the players and their games as much as we can.” Parker stated. “That is one of things I’m trying to pull in a little bit more, having more people aware of what we have going on for them and the fundraisers we do.”
Fundraising is probably the most important function of any booster club, for any sport. The biggest thing the North Garland booster club is doing for their football team is a sports program. They get local businesses to purchase advertisements within the program, then turn around and sell those programs for fans to enjoy during the game.
Another fundraiser they add to the agenda every fall and spring is a Raider Car Wash. This allows the players to be interactive with the people that come out to support them every Friday night, and also have fun while raising money that will go right back to their team. Other moneymakers include t-shirt sales, concessions, and a North Garland Market which includes a variety of vendors from the community and the state of Texas.
“Our goal is to do more for the boys, and show them how much we appreciate them going out every time and doing the best that they can. “ Parker said. “We want to make sure these boys to know that all of their hard work is paying off and people are paying attention to them!”
With her son as a junior on the varsity team, Christina Parker has a few more years as a part of the North Garland Booster Club. With a great team and community behind the Raiders, there’s no doubt their goals can become a reality.
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