Booster Club Funds Spur Initiatives
The Huntington Booster Club is doling out the fruits of its fundraising success, making a series of grants to underwrite numerous new initiatives.
The grants include funds to purchase 40 new cushioned chairs for Louis D. Giani Gymnasium at Huntington High School, complete with white frames, blue seats and the Blue Devil logo. They will be used by athletes and coaches for athletic events in the gym, including basketball and volleyball games, wrestling meets and tournaments and fencing carnivals.
The white cushioned chairs currently in use will be moved to the viewing room on the lower level. That room is used for team meetings and by players and coaches to watch athletic videotapes.
The Booster's are also funding the purchase of several dry erase boards that will be assigned to the high school gym area and used by the coaches of indoor teams.
Another initiative involves spending $6,500 to renovate the weight training room at J. Taylor Finley Middle School, including the purchase of new equipment. New outdoor bleachers were also purchased for use at Finley.
The Booster Club helped renovate and update the high school softball field, funding half the cost of new dugouts and paying for benches, wind screens, an outfield fence and foul poles.
Specialized track shoes were purchased for the track and field program. A new scoreboard was bought for the grass field at the high school. Grants have also been awarded to the soccer, indoor and outdoor track, crew, volleyball and wrestling teams.
Huntington Booster Club President Barbara Cutrone said the group is investigating the possibility of turning a high school gym storage closet into a food concession to better serve fans.
Mrs. Cutrone said the Booster Club is working with Georgia McCarthy, district director of physical education, health and interscholastic athletics, "to improve the athletic facilities and help individual sport teams through our grant program."