Mid Valley cheer team qualifies for nationals; booster club credits district purchase order for fundraising window

Don Healy, treasurer of the Mid Valley Cheerleading Booster Club, addressed the Mid Valley School Board during the presentations portion of the January meeting to thank the district for support after the competitive cheer team qualified for a national tournament in Florida.

“We knew we were gonna make it,” Healy said, describing an aggressive fundraising effort that included business and individual donations, clothing sales, nights out, and a push-up campaign run by the athletes themselves. He said roughly 30% of the amount raised came from the girls’ own fundraising; the team performed 498 push-ups in January as part of the drive.

Healy told the board that the booster club did not have the trip in its budget and that airfare and shuttle prices were changing daily. He said the district’s purchase order effectively bought the boosters “two and a half weeks” to finish fundraising; by the morning of the meeting they had exceeded their goal. “When I walked through that door, we were $10 over the goal,” Healy said.

Healy credited coaches, teachers, parents and volunteers for supporting the effort and said the team would travel to Florida to compete on Feb. 7. Board members and attendees offered congratulations and encouragement during the presentation.

Why this matters: School-sanctioned extracurricular programs that reach regional or national competition often require emergency or supplemental fundraising; the district’s willingness to issue a purchase order allowed the booster club to complete a short, intensive fundraising campaign rather than cancel or scale back participation.

The board did not take any formal action related to the cheer program at this meeting beyond expressing appreciation and acknowledging the team’s qualification.