MARYSVILLE — With close to 150 volunteers at six locations throughout town, the players, parents and coaches of Marysville Youth Football aimed to put a dent in their financial needs for the coming season through their first car wash fundraiser.
“We have so many people who didn’t sign up, but still showed up,” said Diana Lang, a spokesperson for the Marysville Youth Football committee. “Even though we gave them the day off, several of our coaches came out to help support us.”
Car wash stations were located at O’Reilly Auto Parts, the Burger Mill, Gold’s Gym, the Grocery Outlet and Albertsons on State Avenue, as well as the Haggen Food & Pharmacy on 88th Street, on Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lang estimated that pre-sale tickets alone added up to $10,000 in proceeds, which she hoped to increase to $12,000 in total funds raised when all the money is counted. Within the first hour, she noted that the car wash station at the Grocery Outlet had already raised $100, and added that all of the car wash stations remained equally busy.
“Everyone saw consistent traffic throughout the day,” said Lang, who personally visited all six stations during the day. “We couldn’t have asked for better weather and our team captains have gone above and beyond in organizing this event.”
Although Lang is gratified by the number of volunteers who have already suggested ideas for next year’s car wash, she pointed out that the primary purpose of this year’s car wash, beyond fundraising, was to promote Marysville Youth Football.
“As much as anything else, we want to let the city and its businesses know that we’re here, which is part of why we chose the locations that we did,” Lang said. “We wrote letters to all the businesses asking them to participate. Maybe we’ll do another car wash next year, or maybe we’ll do something completely different, but either way, we wanted to make a loud, bold statement to the community.”
Perhaps the boldest statement that the Marysville Youth Football committee can make relates to its needs. Marysville Youth Football parent Cindie Botsford, whose son showed up to wash cars in spite of a broken ankle that left him wheelchair-bound, explained that they needed to pony up $7,000 in referee fees, in addition to $210 for registration and $275 in equipment for each player, and that’s before the costs of insurance and playing on the larger high school fields are factored in.
