Dan Armstead is fundraising
Help Cass High Marching Band Reach Grand Nationals
Help Cass High School get to Grand Nationals!
The Cass High School Marching band has been on an historic run regarding student growth, accolades, and community involvement. In just 5 short years, our marching band has grown from 60 members to over 140. We went from hoping to win some sort of participation trophy in competitions, to winning multiple grand championships. Our Cass High School Marching band has garnered national recognition, as well as being a common name among other Georgia marching bands.
Truth be told, our growth and successes have vastly outpaced our goals, and consequently, our support structure.
For any Marching Band to succeed, you need three main things:
- Immensely talented directors that have near impossible goals
- A student body willing to learn by working exceptionally hard for months on end
- A support system consisting of school administrators, an active booster club, and numerous parent volunteers
The Cass High School Marching Band has all three.
Being a small school in rural Georgia, all we lack is the funding necessary to support such a powerful program. Despite the lack of any funding from the school system, we have been able to manage for years on a shoestring budget, with money primarily coming in through local fundraisers, company sponsorships, and parent contributions. However, this year is special. Our Cass High School is taking our talents to the Grand National Competition in Indianapolis. There, we will compete against bands from all over the country. Most, if not all, are from much larger schools that have much larger budgets. We believe that we have the skillset to not only compete, but to do well in that competition.
We have raised the money to send the kids. Now we just have to physically get their equipment to Indianapolis.
Remember when I wrote about band directors with near impossible goals? Well…. We have that and then some. Most marching bands have some sort of props on the field to add to the artistic effect of the show. Our band, by our director’s visions, will have 27 large on-field props. We will have props that look like large buildings. We have several stage props for soloists. And now we have 16 mobile stage props that are constantly moved around the field with students on top. These props will spin, light up, and even tip up to show various pictures. The students may be swinging flags or playing their instruments on them. All of this is to add to the artistic effect. These props are huge. It takes a large crew of parent volunteers to assemble, push onto the field, push off the field, disassemble, and repack the props into trailers to move on to the next competition. Think of this as the production crew of the Taylor Swift Eras tour, but on a dollar store budget.
With all these props and instruments, we are simply out of trailer space. With the large expense of going to Grand Nationals (over $150,000) , we simply do not have the money in the budget to buy another trailer to haul all the equipment.
This is where you come in.
We are hoping you are willing to help us get to Grand Nationals by contributing toward a new enclosed trailer. The trailer we really need will cost us upwards of $15,000. We would greatly appreciate any help you can give to get our small rural school up to Grand Nationals where we know we will give the large well-funded schools a run for their money. You will be donating to a non-profit organization and will receive a receipt for your donation for tax purposes.
Fundraising tiers:
- If we raise $1000: We would be able dream of a trailer, but not actually own one. Please don’t let us be this sad. The entire band organization would cry.
- If we raise $5000: We can buy a dilapidated used trailer that may get us halfway to Indianapolis. We would then ask that you contribute a tad more to assist with the tow truck, or perhaps you could pick us up off the side of the highway. 140 kids would have to cram into your minivan. All the kids would cry.
- If we raise $10,000: We can afford a smaller trailer that MIGHT fit everything we need. We may have to leave a few instruments at home. Only a few kids would cry.
- If we raise $15,000: Our goal would be reached. We can help the students realize their dreams and play their hearts out in front of a national crowd. All kids will have their instruments, although I would guess that some would still not actually play them. The technical instructors of those kids would cry.
- If we raise more than $15,000: We will put the extra funds toward other needs such as large instruments, additional technical instructors, and a scholarship program to help students in need to pay their band dues. We may even give our band directors something special like a hug or an enthusiastic high-five. We would think of each of you as heroes. We would all cry tears of joy together.
What level of crying will you help us achieve?
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