Candy

and citrus fruit sales may have been enough to

finance high school athletic teams and marching

bands in the past, but several booster clubs in

Fayette County are feeling the pressure to

produce big bucks. And how two of the four

booster clubs are raising those big bucks may

surprise many people.

How?

Sell beer.

Enter

the world of school boosters becoming big-event

bartenders.

The

pressure to raise large amounts of money for

extracurricular activities set the booster clubs

at McIntosh and Sandy Creek high schools looking

for higher returns on their fund-raising efforts.

They found their solution at metro sports and

entertainment events.

Why

do boosters need to sell what their student

children can't legally consume?

It's

the draw of making good money to fuel budgets

that climb as high as $110,000.

The

ability for a volunteer organization to earn

$1,200 on the average for an event at the Georgia

Dome, Lakewood Amphitheater or the Atlanta Motor

Speedway has prompted McIntosh and Sandy Creek

booster clubs, as well as several other school

booster clubs from all over the metro area, to

contract with concession operators to sell food,

drinks and beer.

Booster

club budgets might surprise many people.

McIntosh

High School's band boosters are working with a

$52,300 budget which falls short of anticipated

expenses by about $20,000, based on information

distributed to the parents of band members.

Fayette

County High School's athletic booster club has a

current budget of $110,000, according to Don

Apking, booster club president.

Starr's

Mill High School's athletic booster club budget

tops $100,000 this year, president Jimmy

McCullough reported.

While

most boosters view these activities as a fun and

easy way to make money for their schools'

programs, and work together as a team, some are

critical of the fact that parents are selling

alcohol at some of these venues.

recent letter to The Citizen from a

"concerned parent" from Sandy Creek

High School questioned the ethics of raising

money for the school's baseball team by selling

beer at a Lakewood Amphitheater concert, a

venture which the letter writer said raised

$3,000 in three hours.

"We

have been preaching to our children since they

were born: don't drink, don't take drugs, don't

smoke cigarettes, just say no, etc... I think we

are sending the students at Sandy Creek mixed

messages...," the letter read.

Fayette

County schools and Georgia's State Department of

Education do not pay expenses for athletic teams

and bands, which are considered extracurricular

activities. Therefore, students and parents must

work to support and fund the purchase uniforms

and equipment plus transportation.

Marcia

Brown, a veteran fund-raiser for McIntosh High

School band boosters, said it costs $750 every

time the band travels by bus to an away football

game or band competition.

"There

is no fluff in our budget," Brown said. When

you pay for special music instructors for band

sections such as brass or percussion, pay for

five to eight band trips a year and replace or

fix broken instruments and accessories such as

shoulder straps for the drums, the money starts

to add up, she said.

Out

of the average $1,200 a group makes working a

concession stand, the money is divided up among

the members and pool.

"We

get 10 percent of the total, and from that, the

band fund gets 10 percent," Bob Brown,

booster club fund-raiser and Marcia's husband

said. The remaining funds are divided up among

the students' accounts which are used to defray

costs of travel, uniforms, etc., he said.

"There

are certain legalities we must follow and we

operate as a separate entity from the

school," Brown said. "We work closely

with the school, but the school cannot tell us

how to spend our money."

Or

how to raise it, according to school officials.

There

are no school board policies in place regarding

how booster clubs raise funds, and thus no rules

about boosters selling alcoholic beverages to

raise money for school equipment and activities

at which beer would be banned.

Wayne

Robinson, director of secondary school operations

for the county schools, said each school and its

principal have their own system of accounting.

Furthermore, booster clubs such as Fayette County

High's and McIntosh's Band Boosters are

incorporated as nonprofit organizations with a

501C3 tax designation recognized by the state.

While

McIntosh and Sandy Creek high schools have

booster groups for football, band, and a host of

other sports teams, Starr's Mill High School and

Fayette County High School each have one overall

booster club.

The

Starr's Mill Panther Club raises money for all

athletic, choral and band activities at the high

school and adjacent Rising Starr Middle School,

but they do it without selling alcoholic

beverages, McCullough said. "We like it that

way," he noted. Their proposed 1999-2000

budget is $100,000.

McCullough

said they had "danced around" the idea

of working some of the major venues which served

alcohol, but backed off, finding it to be a

touchy issue among some parents. The Panther Club

has successfully raised money through a monthly

pledge system of $25 per month per family, a

commemorative brick project for the new stadium

under construction, and the sale of discount

coupons for oil changes and other automotive

specials at Kauffman Tire, an exclusive agreement

which has netted the club about $10,000.

Apking

said the Fayette County High School Tiger

Boosters are well-established and have relied

heavily on support from local business.

"We're leaning more toward corporate

sponsorship," he said, noting Coke's plan to

advertise at the stadium. It costs $50 a year to

join the Tiger Booster Club, a fee which

generates significant revenue, Apking said. In

addition, there is the "super booster"

sponsorship which generates about 40 percent of

the budget, Apking added.

Hawking

hot dogs, cokes and draft beer at huge arenas is

not for every parent, and Brown was quick to add

that McIntosh parents also have the option of

volunteering in a number of different ways.

"Parents are never forced to work [selling

beer]," she explained.

Other

fund-raisers on tap for this year's MHS band

boosters include a fruit sale, cheesecake sale,

lawn displays of flamingos for a $25 donation and

helping at the school's concession stand.

Students

who join their parent working at the Georgia Dome

never come in contact with alcohol, Brown

emphasized, and are never left unattended.

"We raised close to $30,00 at the Dome and a

chunk of that is tip money for selling

beer," Brown said. "I'm happy to take

those tips; it paid off our uniforms last

year," she said, noting a total cost of

$80,000 incurred for the purchase of new band

uniforms.

Brown

noted that McIntosh parents also have the option

of working the school's concession during home

games, as well as providing support in other

ways. "It's not for everybody," he

said, referring to concession work at the Georgia

Dome or other major arenas.

Students

are required to be at least 16 years old to work

at the Georgia Dome, but are not allowed to serve

alcohol. For other events, such as Wings Over

Dixie, set for next month at Falcon Field, all

students and parents may work.

Robert

McCloud, who heads up the booster club for Sandy

Creek High School put the fund-raising issue

plainly. "If the individual who wrote the

letter would write a check for $80,00 or $90,000

to the booster club, we wouldn't have to

fund-raise."

He

added, "It's very important to note that

booster clubs are totally independent of the

school. They are incorporated as nonprofit

organizations and operate on their own bylaws. In

no way are our activities intended to undermine

the school system," McCloud said.

The

venue operators make the rules for what is sold

and who may sell it, McCloud said. As volunteers

at the concession stands at Lakewood

Amphitheater, McCloud said, "We don't govern

what we do," the amphitheater management

does.

While

alcohol may be dispensed at one show, it may not

be at another. For instance, the NSYNC concert

coming up this weekend is alcohol-free. McCloud

also emphasized that no parent is forced to

participate. "It is totally voluntary."

He advised the letter writer criticizing the work

parents do to support student athletes to

"take ownership and spearhead other

fund-raising activities."

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