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Boardman stadium project gets boost from Home Savings donation
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A drawing of the proposed stadium at Boardman High School is on the Boardman Boosters’ website. The booster club is trying to raise the $4 million needed to build the stadium and will receive a $100,000 donation from the Home Savings Charitable Fund today.
By Susan Tebben
BOARDMAN
Boardman High School boosters are trying to get a new stadium project up and running, despite voter rejection of a bond issue in 2007 that would have provided funding.
With a $100,000 donation from the Home Savings Charitable Funds, the project is a little closer to fruition.
“The way we’re trying to raise money is through individuals, corporations, foundations. They have the kind of money we’re looking for,” said Bill Bonte, president of the Boardman Booster Club Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that raises money in support of school projects. “We hope that Home Savings will be a major catalyst and bring about more businesses.”
The $4 million project is at about $800,000 and there are hopes that turf — at about $1 million of the total project cost — will be laid this year. The goal is to have the rest of the project funded and completed in 2014, Bonte said.
The completion date, though, obviously depends on the amount of donations received. The booster club has committed $100,000 to the project as well and has received donations of $50,000 from the Gridiron Club and $25,000, along with smaller donations, from anonymous donors.
“There’s a stigma on stadium projects con- nected to the nonpassage of levies, and we’re trying to take that stigma away,” Bonte said.
Though schools Superintendent Frank Lazzeri acknowledges the project might take a while to be completed, he said the stadium would benefit the entire district, not just the high school.
“We’re always scrambling for a field, especially when we have rain or weather like we’ve had lately,” Lazzeri said. “This field would be good for that, for the high school and the middle school and community athletics as well.”
When the bond didn’t pass, the school district didn’t have the money to build a stadium and had to focus on academics and student safety, Lazzeri said. But he is optimistic that the project funds will continue to grow, especially with major donors coming on board.
“Hopefully, it will be seed money that will bring more big donors,” he said.
The Home Savings Charitable Foundation will present a check to the boosters at 11:30 a.m. today at the Sports Complex, east of Boardman High School, 7777 Glenwood Ave.
For more information on the Boardman stadium project or to donate, visit boardmanboosters.org, or contact Bonte at bill.bonte@boardmanboosters.org.