Chatfield Grid Iron Club:

The main function of the Grid Iron Club is to support Chatfield High School Football. This support comes in many different ways. Volunteering time, fund raising, supporting events like Home Coming  and Prom. The successs on the field comes easier with the support and backing of the community. 

The 2010 Chatfield Grid Iron Club meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 7pm at Chatfield High School. We openly encourage all the football parents to participate. Please look at the events calendar tab on the home page to help with times and location of these meetings.

If your child is participating in the football program, then we highly encourage you to get involved. The Grid Iron Club will hosts a variety of programs and events in 2010. We host these events to raise money for the football program and to promote community involvement. Some of these include: The 7th Annual Chatfield Football Golf Tournament in June, peach sales, Home Coming and After Prom. These events raise the money necessary to keep the program running. 

To run a successful football high school football program requires financial support and backing. A portion of the funds comes from the Jefferson County School District. For 2010 the district gives the football program about $6,000 for the season. The remainder of the cost becomes the responsibility of the booster clubs, parents and players. With the budget cutbacks in school spending over the last decade for athletics and other school programs, more emphasis has been placed upon organizations like the Chatfield Grid Iron Club. In a typical year, the Grid Iron Club will attempt to raise $20-30K for the football program.

To illustrate how these funds are spent:

A typical football helmet cost approximately $150-$200 depending upon the helmet. Buy 25 new helmets and you've spent  in the neighborhood of $5,000. To outfit a Varsity Team of 75 players with all their gear and you're easily spending $25,000 or more. Add the cost of all the additional gear required and it adds up fast. 

Additionally there are times when additional funds are needed. For example, a few years ago there was construction at Chatfield, the football program had to pay for buses to transport the Freshman players to a near by Middle School for practice. The field they normally practiced on was under construction and wasn't available. So the football program had to absorb the cost of transportation and paid $30-$35 an hour for a bus driver (3 hours a day, 5 days a week) for a 11 week season to get these freshman players to the field. That was a large expense to the program. So it's easy to see why it's important for a successful high school football team to have well functioning booster club to help with these expenses. 

Please check with your employer if they offer volunteer grants for donating time to a charity? The Grid Iron Club is a 501c3 nonprofit association and many companies will donate funds for hours their employee's donate or give to charity. This is a great way to raise funds from other sources than mom and dad! We can easily provide our tax information to aid you in this process.

Your officers for 2010 are:

Jim Saddoris     Sandy McGee     Mike Elsenbast        Tom Clarke    Sheryl Sullivan
President           Vice President    Vice President         Treasurer       Secretary