Booster Club provides aid to students

KateLynn Slaamot 
NLJ Correspondent 
 
The Newcastle Booster Club has helped local students and alleviated their need for fundraising since 2017 – an important part of the club’s mission. The annual golf tournament is one event that allows the club to provide help to students and athletes. 
The 3rd annual Golf Tournament fundraiser will take place at the Newcastle Country Club on Aug. 10. The four-man scramble starts at 9:30 a.m. Each team will consist of four people, and the club has established a limit of 18 teams for this year’s event. Jamie Beastrom, club treasurer, said that the tournament will last all day – a full 18 holes. Lunch will also be provided, Beastrom said. 
“I think it’s just a nice way for everybody to kind of come together,” Beastrom said, noting that past tournaments have even brought in people from other communities, including coaches from other communities. 
Pre-registration is $200 per team. There are also incentives at some of the holes. At hole 1, a team can pay $20 to move up to where ladies “tee off,” $50 to move up to the hill or $100 to move up to the green. Hole 6 features an opportunity for teams to play blackjack. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go to help students and athletes. 
The golf tournament isn’t the only way the club raises funds. The organization has a membership program, with a one-year membership costing $10 to $500. The latter is known as the Dogie Domination and is purchased mainly by local businesses. All earnings from the memberships also go back to the community. The club also receives donations from the community.
In past years, the club has benefited students with $10,000-$12,000 in aid in a single year, according to Beastrom. She said that the club really tries to “zero out” each year. 
“Whatever we raise goes right back into the students,” Beastrom said. 
The group’s Facebook page states that its purpose is to “promote sportsmanship and winning attitudes in High School athletics and activities through positive support.” 
Another goal of the club is to ease the burden of recurrent fundraising for both the sports teams that may need to fundraise and the businesses that may be hit with fundraising requests time and again. The club’s giving has supported the purchase of equipment that different teams need, helped provide funds for the football camp at Mallo Camp and much more, while lessening the overall cost for athletes. Vice President Jon Tidyman said that nonathletic groups, such as speech and debate and FBLA, may also contact the club to request funds. The club also provides scholarships to students entering college.
“I find it a way to be able to give back to the athletes,” Beastrom said. She also wants to promote “parent involvement” in sports, she said. 
Tidyman said that the booster club helps to make extracurricular activities more accessible to students, and it also helps with the cost of trips for sports teams and other school groups.
Beastrom credited the community’s generosity and its support with making the booster club and its mission possible. 
“We have a very giving community,” Beastrom said.