Greetings supporters and friends of Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors,
I am writing to you all to provide an update about our present capital campaign. At the beginning of this year we initiated a campaign to raise $100,000 for the purchase of four top of the line racing shells, ten new rowing machines and some additional funds for a new engine and trailer for our launch fleet.
Why Are We Fundraising At This Time?
Tulsa rowing club juniors has blossomed into a 50+ athlete program in just a few short years. To accommodate this growth and to remain competitive in our region we need to improve our resources and equipment. If you are interested in reading our original campaign kick off letter, please visit the following link so that you can learn more about our current and future needs.
http://www.tulsajuniorsrowing.org/fundraising/default.asp
How Much Progress Have We Made Since We Started The Campaign?
Since we made the announcement about our campaign, we have met with tremendous support from boosters and friends of the club. Our total amount of donations or pledges provided by TRCJ and our adult masters members totals $36,500.
With existing funds in TRC accounts and Stone Family Foundation Matching funds our total for fundraising now stands at $88,000. These are enough funds to purchase the boats and purchase a new engine and a trailer for a coaching launch. At this time we have 12K remaining in Stone Family Foundation matching funds. Therefore, for every $1.50 we raise this foundation will match with a $1.00 contribution.
My sincere thanks go to everyone who has shown their support of our present fundraising drive, this represents a major step forward for the standard of our equipment and will definitely help our performance to be a better program in service to Tulsa.
Why Is It Important The We Reach Our Fundraising Goal of $100,000?
At the present point in time and in the near future, it is likely that our juniors program will have sixty or more athletes competing. This is an all time high for the program and bodes well for future success. There is much positive momentum and hard work going on at the boathouse and I know that there are great things in store for our athletes. However, this makes the need for funds for the purchase of ten new rowing machines imperative to our success.
The logistics of running a sixty strong juniors rowing program are great and these rowing machines are important to reach that goal. Each Concept 2 rowing ergometer costs $1100 which also includes delivery costs. For more information on these machines please visit the following link.
http://www.concept2.com/us/indoorrowers/d_home.asp
If you know of anyone that can help, or would like us to approach to solicit funds for these final items, please let me know.
What Are Our Athletes Doing To Help With Fundraising?
In addition to the capital campaign, the athletes are doing their part and have raised $9600 as a result of their participation in our annual Row-A-Thon last month. At this point in time, more athletes continue to turn in funds by the day, so we are looking good to reach our goal of $10,600. This money will be used to pay off existing loans on previous boat purchases and help with our overall budget for running the juniors program.
In conclusion, we have great momentum as we start our spring season and I look forward to working with you all over the coming months.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Yours Sincerely,
Neil Bergenroth
Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors – Head Coach
918.906.5233