Portsmouth High Receives $15,000 Gift for New Turf Field
The Friends of the PHS Arts & Athletic Complex received a donation toward their goal on Friday night.
The following is from a press release.
The Rick Hole Athletic Foundation presented a check to the Friends of the PHS Arts & Athletic Complex on Friday night at Portsmouth High School.
The foundation has donated $10,000 to the group, with another $5,000 being donated by Dick and Heather Strout.
Friends of the PHS Arts & Athletic Complex is a group of dedicated parents and school administrators who support athletics, music, youth sports and extracurricular activities at Portsmouth High School. This group has organized a massive $1.6 million fundraising campaign to replace the 25-year-old running track and the overused central athletic field.
The committee members are: Dr. Lynn Krizic, superintendent of Portsmouth Schools; Stephen Trezvant, Portsmouth High School’s athletic director; Julia Coll; Ted Clement; Christine Jenkins; Gary Eggeman; and Keith Hamilton.
The Portsmouth school committee, administration and key faculty have agreed that this is a very worthwhile and long overdue effort. The existing track is non-regulation size, can no longer be resurfaced, and the community may not host any league meets.
The central field is saved for games only and is in deplorable condition. The new proposed “synthetic turf” field and track will be a centerpiece for the Portsmouth community, young and old.
The cost of the new track and field is approximately $1.6 million. The Friends of the PHS Arts and Athletic Complex already raised a $500,000 challenge grant and is now seeking matching funds.
The goal is to “break ground” by June 2013 in order for the complex to be completed by the September 2013 school year.
Donations of any sizes are welcome. All tax deductible donations will be accepted through the Portsmouth High School Athletic Boosters Club, a 501(C)3 organization.
A special account has been set-up exclusively for the Arts & Athletic Complex project.
To help, you can donate two ways: checks can be made out to PHS Athletic Boosters with “Arts and Athletic Complex” written in the memo, and mailed to PHS Athletic Boosters, P.O. Box 438, Portsmouth, RI 02871.
Or you can donate online by visiting http://www.friendsofphsartsandathleticcomplex.wordpress.com or www.phsboosters.com.
Dick Strout
7:30 am on Monday, September 10, 2012
The Rick Hole Athletic Foundation is pleased to support PHS Arts & Athletic Complex with a $15K donation. This is a great cause that will benefit the entire Portsmouth community. Rick Hole would be very proud to help this initiative.
Please note a correction to the article, The Friends of the PHS Arts & Athletic Complex is the organization responsible for raising the $500K in matching funds not The Rick Hole Athletic Foundation as noted in the article. Thank you Friends of The PHS Arts & Athletic Complex.
John Brown
7:41 am on Monday, September 10, 2012
Get Duncan Igrahram to donate some of his money. Maybe he could match funds!
Jane Wolk Wheeler
2:25 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
Always glad to see the community supporting the schools, but where does the "Arts" piece fit in?????
Dick Strout
3:02 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
The Portsmouth High School Marching Band is one of the biggest users of that field.
Robert E
5:03 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
The Marching Band is the Music Dept. not the Arts Dept. So where does the "Arts" piece fit in?????
Mark D
6:16 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
The arts part is a joke unless a portion of the money is going to the revitalization of anything in the art dept.
IMHO
8:14 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Music IS an art. Art as defined by dictionary.com: "a branch of learning or university study, especially one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature: She was adept at the arts of music and painting; I've always felt an affinity towards the visual arts, though I studied art of philosophy."
Mark D
3:57 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
Someone involved with this effort should use kickstarter.com to set up a donation effort with a specific goal. This is a great way to get people from all over involved with the effort to raise funds for this project. I will donate to this cause I just don't want to see taxpayer funds used on this project.
Friends of PHS Arts & Athletic Complex
5:36 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
We have a website set up to explain the project (info still being added) and accept donations through PayPal.
Here is the link- it explains the goal of 1.6 million that we need to raise.
www.friendsofphsartsandathleticcomplex.wordpress.com
We also have a page on Facebook- here is that link:
https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthephsartsathleticcomplex
There are informative slides in the album section of the page.
Mark D
6:14 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
You know the problem with this type of donation if the goal isn't reached you have still donated money that won't go to the project. With Kickstarter you only pay when the goal is reach. That way you won't be donating to one project and having it end up somewhere else.
David Howe
8:48 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
Thanks to Portsmouth Patch for helping spread the word on a great community project. LIke other track and turf fields this facility will be widely used by the entire community.
Further thanks for including the Rick Hole Athletic Foundation in your coverage. The Foundation honors Rick's record as an athlete, his career as an Athletic Director, and his passion for impactful projects with a connection to sports on Aquidnec Island. He would be proud to know that his was the first gift to respond to the challenge.
Can't wait to see this project finished!
Portsmouth Senior Citizen
9:03 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
"LIke other track and turf fields this facility will be widely used by the entire community."
When you state entire community, does that also include the Town Taxpayers? If so, just like they said we (Town Taxpayers) could also use the New Gym - NOT.
Kamakazee
4:26 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Portsmouth Senior Citizen - Numerous people from the community use the track daily for walking/ running I go up there several times a month to run the track and always see other people, who obviously are not students, at the track using the facility.