Booster Club near its goal of raising $27,000 for a trailer. Here’s why they need it
A longtime joke between Amy Higgins and Sheila Sloss has run throughout their time as members of the Blazer Band Booster Club. That inside joke eventually spilled over to a very public one when Sloss gave Higgins a T-shirt that read, “Hi! I’m Amy. Can I see your trailer?”
Sloss is the president and Higgins is the vice president of the parent-led Blazer Band Booster Club, which supports the band students at Gardner Edgerton High School. Sloss and Higgins, both from Gardner, have kids in the band.
From the very beginning of their volunteer work, Higgins has made it her mission to see how the booster club could raise enough money to purchase a 24-foot-long trailer to haul band instruments and uniforms.
When she realized that Gardner Edgerton High School was one of the only 6A high schools in Johnson County without a band trailer, Higgins went to work researching what they needed. She visited several band trailers belonging to other schools when she saw them at band competitions.
Hence the joke between the moms. But it was all for a good cause.
“I think having that visual representation of the band program with a logo on the side of a trailer is a huge source of pride for the program,” Higgins said.
It would prove to be a challenging task for the booster club. They would need to raise more than $27,000 to buy the trailer, wrap it with the logo, and purchase the uniform racks they needed for the inside. According to Sloss, it was a challenge worth pursuing. She came to that conclusion one day when she was handing out snack bags to the band as they were boarding the bus to head to a competition.
“We saw all these kids holding their hat boxes and uniforms, trying to get everything on the bus,” Sloss said. “We don’t want them being uncomfortable on a long bus trip.”
The marching band at Gardner Edgerton High School has approximately 125 members. The band now uses a school district box truck to transport instruments to its various competitions.
To raise the money, Higgins, Sloss and the other booster club members contacted more than 200 businesses in the community, asking them to help sponsor the band trailer. They began contacting potential donors in February of this year, and to date they’ve raised $20,000 from sponsorships from businesses and local nonprofit community groups. Now they’re trying to raise the remaining $7,500 for uniform racks through a Go Fund Me campaign.
“It’s been fun meeting the nonprofit groups that are eager to help the kids,” Higgins said. “They are excited to support musicians.”
Supporting musicians has been the goal since the Blazer Band Booster Club formed in the fall of 2019.
“We started it because we were surprised there wasn’t a band booster club,” Sloss said. “We were just looking for ways for parents to get involved and to do fun things for the kids.”
Unfortunately, the group had to pause in 2020 due to the pandemic right when it was just getting started. But it came back stronger than ever in 2021 with a host of fundraising activities, including making and selling prom corsages and boutonnieres, working concession stands, selling food at a homecoming game tailgate and holding car washes.
The money raised has been used to feed the marching band students before football games, and to provide misting tents and fun activities like a snow cone truck and pool party during the hot, week-long band camp in the summer.
The booster club also sponsors a Halloween party and a spring fling event. This year, the club will award its first $500 scholarship to a graduating senior.
The Blazer Band Booster Club hopes to raise the remainder of the funds needed for the trailer in time to unveil it in front of parents and students during the conclusion of band camp on Aug. 4.
“Band is a family, and we want to give them an opportunity to get to know each other,” Sloss said.
