News

Chatham Athletic Foundation Readies for Major Fundraiser

By Tracy Ness

THE CHATHAMS — The Chatham Athletic Foundation (CAF) started more than a year ago by a group of parents who were frustrated by the quality of the playing fields in town and had a desire to do something about it. In less than a year, the group convinced the governing bodies in the Borough and the Township to create a public/private partnership and have raised over $250,000 towards their goal of $500,000 to rehabilitate two large multi-purpose fields, one in each town. On Friday, September 22 the CAF will hold their major fundraiser and celebration at the Madison Hotel and Vice President Todd Rogers hopes that residents and recreation supporters will come out for a good time and a good cause. “It’s a celebration of the partnership between two towns and their residents who have come together to fund projects that will benefit the youth in our community,” said Mr. Rogers. “It will be a great evening and we hope that we will come closer to our financial goals.”

The CAF Gala will feature a lot of enticements to help them reach that goal. “People have been incredibly generous with the items they have donated for the live and silent auctions,” said Board member Karl Schmidt. “And we have received donations ranging from $5 to thousands of dollars.”

Some of the auction items include a behind the scene visit to Jim Kramer’s TV show Mad Money along with transportation and dinner in Summit, skating on the ice with the New Jersey Devils, tickets for the New York Jets with a trip to the sidelines during the game, autographed sports memorabilia, jewelry, in-home wine tastings and chef dinners as well as ski and sun vacation homes. The Glostixx will perform and there will be dinner and dancing. Tickets are $275 per couple and ticket requests can be mailed to PO Box 568, Chatham, New Jersey 07928.

As part of the partnership, both the Borough and the Township have each pledged one-third of the total project costs with the amount not to exceed $350,000 per town. Preliminary estimates for the Lum Field project have come in at $1.1 million The Borough is taking the lead on the Lum project and final engineering estimates are due back later in September. “We would love to have the field ready for the kids to play on in Spring of 2007,” said Mr. Rogers. .

The CAF would like to follow in the successful footsteps of organizations like the Chatham Education Foundation, who raise private funds to provide supplemental learning opportunities that the school budget cannot fund; or the Athletic Boosters Club at the High School who raise funds to purchase equipment, fund transportation to sporting events and have even provided money to remodel the bathrooms at Cougar Field. The same goes for the Music Boosters who purchased chairs for the band room, fund field trips and the purchase of new instruments through parent donations. The Foundation’s efforts will focus on athletics for the kindergarten through eighth grade group and their primary mission is to increase the playing capacity of the fields and enhance the athletic experience for all children. The CAF currently has a board of twelve trustees and has received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

For more information on the Chatham Athletic Foundation visit www.chathamathleticfoundation.org

© 2011 Chatham Athletic Foundation

Email: theboard@chathamathleticfoundation.org