The Balers Backers Athletic Organization, which is nearly two
years old now, could not have started a moment too soon.
The Balers Backers Athletic Organization, which is nearly two years old now, could not have started a moment too soon.
When Kristen Para graduated in 2004, discussions of an across-the-board boosters organization at San Benito High School were only in the early stages. Certain sports programs like football, basketball and cheerleading boasted of their own fundraising efforts through boosters, but one, all-encompassing organization remained on the backburner that would offset some of the costs for the athletes and help raise funds for every sport.
Remember, money wasn’t as tight back then.
But the lack of athletic funding was starting to hit the collegiate level, and when Para attended San Francisco State University following graduation, the walk-on-turned-scholarship track athlete felt the brunt of the financial crisis almost immediately.
“The budget was cut back and it threatened athletics entirely,” said Para, who at the time was president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at SFSU. “We asked the students to pay for everything. They took it all on, pretty much.
“Hopefully, that doesn’t have to happen here.”
A full-time Realtor with Intero Real Estate Services in Hollister, Para’s athletic background and connection to SBHS led her to the Baler Backers. She is now vice president of the organization, which began with its annual Baler Summer Nights fundraiser in August 2008.
Challenges ahead
But with the budget crisis not taking too long to trickle-down from the state to the district and now to high school athletics, Para and a handful of community volunteers are trying to save sports once again.
“I had to fight to play, to do what I love,” Para said of the budget crisis at SFSU. “It was difficult. It was always this, ‘What if?’
“I would hate for high school athletes who can’t fund for themselves to have to worry about whether they’ll have a bus ride or a uniform.”
With the San Benito High School District’s recent announcement of $1.8 million in budget cuts, including a proposed cut of $100,000 from the district’s contribution toward athletics, an added importance has been placed on the athletic department’s other two fundraising avenues — the Associated Student Body and the community volunteers that make up the boosters.
Currently, 10 parents, teachers, community supporters and alumni make up the board of directors for the Baler Backers, which has a total of 76 members listed on its Web site. The organization raised approximately $60,000 during the 2008 and 2009 calendar years, and has helped pay for some of the “above and beyond” items for the high school’s 23 varsity sports teams, such as new uniforms for the girls tennis team, new parkas for the swimming team, and a pitching machine for the baseball team.
With the recent budget cutbacks, however, Athletic Director Tod Thatcher, who acts as a consultant to the Baler Backers, has asked the organization to spend conservatively knowing that more difficult times are just down the road.
“We’ve been frugal and lean anticipating these cuts,” Thatcher said. “Next year is gonna be tough. That’s my concern. It’s one-time money and then it’s going away.”
Spirits still high
The proposed cuts haven’t dampened the spirits of the Baler Backers, though. While vice president Para is not ready to see what happened at SFSU happen at SBHS, treasurer Mark Neal gives up his free time because of the influences he’s had on his life.
A former CFO with Unity Care Group, a nonprofit that develops social programs for at-risk youth, Neal said he’s seen the damage, “unless you get out and participate.”
He’s been involved with Pop Warner and is now involved with Baler Backers as a result. Unlike most of the organization’s members, Neal wasn’t born in Hollister, didn’t go to San Benito High, and doesn’t have any children involved in sports at the prep level.
“I’m doing it because I know the importance sports can have on kids,” said Neal, who graduated from Castlemont High in Oakland and has two children at SBHS. “I’ve seen kids, who are on the edge, one way or the other, and how sports have helped them.”
Neal said Baler Backers has put 96 percent of the money its raised back into the athletic department, with the organization having raised roughly $60,000 from three different fundraisers since its inception.
Meanwhile, February’s winter calendar fundraiser raised approximately $6,000, Neal said, while the Baler Backers have the drive-through barbecue and Summer Nights fundraisers scheduled for April and August of this year, respectively.
“I just know parents and coaches and teachers have such a huge impact on the lives of kids,” added Neal, who is a full-time CPA in Hollister. “They made a difference, so I believe in that.”
While Neal’s non-Baler background is different than most of the members of the organization — fundraising chairwoman Lynette Bastianelli graduated from Live Oak — his passion isn’t at all unlike the other Baler Backers.
The organization’s active member list could second for the cheering section at any San Benito sporting event, and it often does. But the organization is still searching for new bodies to help out wherever they can, as fundraising events like Summer Nights take an inordinate amount of time to prepare for, and with the recent budget cuts only placing a growing spotlight on fundraising efforts.
Truly dedicated
Board members are often working nonstop in the weeks leading up to an event while returning phone calls and answering e-mails daily — all this on top of a full-time job, as well as any other volunteer work they do outside of the Baler Backers.
Jared Gill, for instance, is a board member in San Francisco for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and has been involved for the last four years. A 2000 graduate of San Benito High, where he played both baseball and football, Gill is also the president of Baler Backers.
“I saw it as the right thing to do and a great way for future kids at SBHS to experience what I got to experience, if not better,” said Gill, who is also the plant manager for True Leaf Farms in San Juan Bautista.
However, the 28-year-old president recently introduced a new plan to the organization: Instead of supplying sports teams with new equipment or uniforms — those “above and beyond” items — the Baler Backers will provide scholarships like they always have, but also make donations directly to the athletic department in order to help offset the rising costs.
With a budget shortfall, it’s not necessarily what the Baler Backers would like to do, but they will help out wherever they can.
“I really would like the Baler Backers to get back to just being there for the good stuff, and getting programs to excel,” Gill said. “But at this point, I want the Baler Backers to support the athletic department, that even through these economic times, kids can still get the best athletic experience they can get.
“Sports are a positive forum for kids. I would hate for that opportunity to be taken away because of funding.”
TO DONATE
Due to the recent cutbacks, San Benito High School and the Baler Backers Athletic Organization have teamed up for Team Baler: Balers Supporting Baler Athletes, where community members can donate directly to the school’s athletic program. Donations can be made to either the school or the Baler Backers Athletic Organization. For more information, log on to: www.sbhsd.k12.ca.us.
