Oxford Athletics Booster Club fundraiser Boosters and Blues coming up

Published 10:30 am Monday, July 24, 2017

Next month, the Oxford Charger Athletics Booster Club will be holding a fundraiser that the entire community can get behind.

The third annual Blues and Boosters event will take place on Saturday, Aug. 12 and aims to raise money for Oxford Middle and High School sports.

Geoffrey Yoste, the Booster Club President, says that the idea for the event came almost four years ago when the club finished the fundraising campaign to complete the turf field at Bobby Holcomb Field.

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“It became apparent that there was strong community support for Charger athletics and our teams had many needs that need to be met outside of their athletic budgets,” Yoste said in an email. “In years past, the Oxford Charger Athletics Booster Club had depended on selling Booster passes as our main source of income to distribute to the teams.  It was obvious we needed more income.”

The board at that time, led by Will Cooper, decided to host a party to get those funds. The past two years, Blues and Boosters was held at The Library on the Square, but Yoste says they have “outgrown the venue” and this year, the event will be at the Powerhouse.

During its first year, Blues and Boosters raised $75,000 and the next it garnered $100,000.

Yoste added that the party allows parents of students to socialize with parents who have students that graduated from the school district.

“Many of the OHS parents don’t see each other as much as they used too because as their kids get older they play multiple sport and start concentrating on one maybe two, three is a rarity,” he said. “So these parents all get together and get to reminisce and have a good time.”

There will be a slideshow highlighting the different Charger teams as well as the party’s corporate sponsors. The Charger Booster OHS and OMS Parent and Coach of the Year will be named along with the “coveted” Super Charger Booster Award.

“It’s important to note, that while we have enjoyed much success it is a lot of work by a small number of dedicated folks, the Booster Club Board and several volunteers they have enlisted to help plan and execute the event,” Yoste said. “The most important thing really is all the generous donations we get from the Oxford business community and individuals.”

Since Oxford High School was recently moved up to a 6A classification, they will now be playing “elite schools with larger facilities and much larger athletics budgets.”

“We have to do more with less, so I feel it is my job to raise bank to help our team get the things they need,” Yoste said. “This event mean s a lot to me as a Charger parent, as the Booster Club President and as one of the founders of the event after I move one and my kids are out of school I would like to see Oxford Chargers Boosters & Blues bigger and be more successful each year.”