Schools
Anonymous Donor Gives $450K for Burgess Field Improvements
Combined with $50,000 in donations made through Friends of Burgess Field, a half-million dollars are being donated to improve the playing surface.
Who is the anonymous donor who has given $450,000 to improve Burgess Field?
When the School Board accepts the donation at a 5 p.m. special meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Coultrap facility, will board members choose to pursue artificial turf or simply improve the natural turf drainage that has turned the high school playing field into muck in rainy seasons?
Will Burgess Field be renamed Anonymous Donor Field?
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These and other questions will be on the table, but for the time being, there is only joy in Mudville, as the Friends of Burgess Field has met its goal of raising $500,000 for a new playing surface at the high school. The "Friends" have raised $50,000 in addition to the $450,000 from the donor-who-might-never-be-named-later.
The Daily Herald's Susan Sarkauskas broke the news a little after midnight this morning, so although we're sending this out as a "Breaking News" alert, it's not terribly new.
Find out what's happening in Genevawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As you might imagine, Tom Finnberg is one happy guy right now. Finnberg is the vice president of the Geneva Sports Boosters and the person spearheading the effort to raise funds for "Turf Without Taxes."
“I feel great," he said. "I came home from Arkansas after spring break and got a $10,000 check from somebody who also wanted to remain anonymous. So it's been an amazing week."
From personal donations to trivia nights to Harry Potter movie tickets to State Farm's Friday Night Feats to ex-Bear Emery Moorehead at Buffalo Wild Wings to a spirited campaign in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge, Finnberg and Friends have tried just about every fundraising effort known to humankind.
"It’s been a roller coaster," he said Tuesday. "I’m just happy for the kids and all involved.”
Finnberg's fondest hope is that the School Board will accept the donations, determine that artificial turf is the way to go and make arrangements for construction so that the field can be in operation by this fall.
"As soon as the girls soccer team walks off, we're hoping they can start construction," he said.
