Collegiate Academy Crew Needs Your Help

The high school rowers from Collegiate Academy are in danger of losing their spring racing season and need your help getting back on the water.

As the team returned from training camp, a passing car lost its muffler. It bounced under the team’s tow vehicle and crashed through their loaded boat trailer. There were thankfully no injuries, but the muffler destroyed the bow of the team’s nicest (and fastest) boat, leaving it out of commission for the season ahead, which begins in a matter of days.

We’re asking for your support to get the boat replaced and these kids back on the water in safe, competitive equipment as soon as possible.

Boats on a Budget

There are plenty of high school teams who can easily handle a loss like this. They’d put the damaged shell away for the season and grab another from their fleet.

Collegiate Academy isn’t that kind of team.

This is a club program that runs on a shoestring budget. We receive no funding from the school district and are fully funded by dues and donations.

We hold one fundraiser each year to offset the $300 in dues each rower owes the team--that $300 covers our race entry fees, insurance, and equipment for each season. (If you're wondering how it's even possible for the team to exist on such thin margins, that's a testament to how well our head coach, Jeff Weiss, manages the team's finances.)

Unfortunately, no amount of Jeff’s careful accounting is going to make thousands of dollars appear from thin air in time to save the season.

Here’s the Plan

These kids have worked hard and deserve every chance to compete and win this spring. While we hope to ultimately salvage the damaged boat and return it to service, there’s no way we’ll be able to navigate insurance and repairs in time for this season.

In the meantime, we’re raising cash to purchase a used (but fast) replacement shell to use immediately.

Rowing shells are expensive. And while there are plenty of teams who would be preparing to spend $25,000–Collegiate crew can’t and wouldn’t.

Our goal is to secure a used shell within the budget of this fundraiser in time to hit the water right now. We have boats in our fleet that are 30+ years old—the kids will get use out of this purchase for many years to come.

Our goal is to secure a used shell within the budget of this fundraiser and in time to hit the water right now. Because we have boats in our fleet that are 30+ years old, the kids will get use out of this purchase for many years to come.

We need to secure a boat fast to keep our kids on the water and give them the ability to train and race right now.

Share! Spread the Word

In addition to contributing to the boat fund, we’re also hoping that you help us expand our network beyond our local friends and families here in Erie. Collegiate Academy draws students from some of the poorest zip codes in the country and there is a limit to how much we can ask financially from our neighbors here.

The rowing community is an incredible network. Competition is, of course, the reason we race--but rowers support other rowers. Our sport changes lives--this is about so much more than a few races. This is showing the kids that their work is worth something and that the community sees them and recognizes their commitment.

Please help us cast a wide net and raise enough to get the kids back on the race course ASAP. Share with your friends, your extended families, and maybe your teammates from your own days on the water.