Westhampton Beach Parent Discusses Reviving Booster Club

While Westhampton Beach Parent Teacher Association member Jen Neumaier was doing some fundraising for the middle school, she said she ran into multiple business owners who stated that they’re feeling tapped out.

After hearing that, she decided to voice her feelings on the revival of a districtwide Booster Club during Monday’s Board of Education meeting.

“They tell me, ‘Oh, we just contributed to football or volleyball,’” Neumaier said at the November 27 meeting. “Some of the fundraising efforts we have now are very parsed out through different sports teams and clubs throughout the district, so it may behoove us to get a large pool of money together in the future to be tapped into and equally distributed across the groups that are perhaps not getting the funding they require.”

While no one argued the benefits of a Booster Club resurgence, board President Suzanne Mensch did contend that most clubs and teams have the money needed to function.

“It’s not as if any group is unable to continue on or do the activities that they’re tasked with,” she said. “These are all extras that families and the community would like to provide to students to enhance their experiences. But I do want to stress that we believe that everybody has the funding they need to succeed.”

Neumaier responded that she hasn’t heard otherwise, but one audience member, who prefaced her comment by saying that the community is fortunate the district supports all it does, added that raising money allows for the full cost of participating in things that families may not otherwise be able to afford.

“What a club needs is not the same as what a child needs in order to be able to fully participate,” she said.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carolyn Probst said that while the Booster Club predates her time in the district, and went dormant after parents who were more heavily involved moved out of the district or because their children aged out, second-year Athletic Director Jason Cohen has been working to restore it.

“Mr. Cohen has been working for the last six months to recruit parents to try to breathe life back into a booster club,” the superintendent said, adding she believes the COVID-19 pandemic also played a part. “At each of his meetings at the start of the fall athletic season, and as recently as last week at the start of the winter season, he has solicited interest. It’s a big undertaking.”

Probst said some have expressed a desire to help, but that more is needed. The superintendent said she would connect Neumaier with Cohen to continue the conversation.

“I think you raise some valid points, certainly, about going to the same local businesses and entities,” Probst said. “At the end of the day, it’s all in an effort to provide great things for our clubs and teams.”

Neumaier said coming up with other fundraising efforts, even during the summer to gain support from homeowners who are not year-round residents, could supplement traditional fundraising.