The event is now over and the results are now in on the Keene State College Athletics Giving Challenge.
According to Keene State College Planned Giving Officer Ken Goebel, the total number of donations from the event was $31,246.50 to all the programs combined.
The KSC baseball program raised the most money out of any of the teams, raising $9,912.50 and had a total of 111 donors. Keene State Baseball Head Coach Ken Howe said being in contact with alumni and supporters helped the results.
“I really reached out to a lot of people. Just asking for help and hoping that they are going to remember the program. Obviously when we look at the numbers we had a very good result with that. I’ve got a lot of thank you notes that I need to write,” Howe said.
The men’s lacrosse team came in second place raising $8,390 and had the most donors with 261. Goebel said the men’s lacrosse team received an additional $2,000 prize since they had the most donors. “We already got the gift so it is a matter of making the transfer,” Goebel said.
Keene State men’s lacrosse Head Coach Mark Theriault said it was an all around effort getting donors. “I had each of my players contact 20 people they knew. I personally went on Facebook, Twitter and I made phone calls to all of my alums to donate,” Theriault said.
Coming in third place was the softball program, which raised $3,222.50. However, they did not have enough donors or alumni donations to get the extra prize money.
Goebel said women’s soccer was award the other $2,000 prize because they had 91 percent of their donations from alumni. The women’s soccer team raised $1,175.00 and had the highest percentage of alumni donors with 29 out their 32 donors being alums.
The extra prize money was given by Fenton Family Dealerships who sponsored the challenge. Goebel said that Fenton was glad to help out. “They were very pleased that their gift not only helped directly but was able to generate that additional money. So that is a big step,” Goebel said.
The teams use the money in a variety of ways for purchasing equipment and other essentials. The baseball team will be using some of the money towards the trip it took to Florida over spring break.
Howe said the trip costs about $45,000 a year. “It will continue to go towards the Florida trip. That is funded by the players themselves which is tough because they are playing a quarter of their season and paying for themselves,” Howe said.
The planning office was very pleased with the results Goebel said. “I think it can be repeated. I don’t know if this is something we want to do every year. We will do a recap and a planning session shortly but certainly every other year will be easy for us,” Goebel said.
Howe, like Goebel, said he was pleased with the results. “For the first time of doing it as a department it was a great first step to help defray the costs of the current student athletes,” Howe said.
Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@kscequinox.com
