The SEVA Seahawks Booster Club is a group consisting of parents, family members, and friends of SEVA Seahawk swimmers. The Booster Club was organized to provide a wide variety of financial support for the SEVA swim team swimmers. This is achieved through the revenues earned by running a twice-monthly bingo session. In order for us to thrive, we need your participation! Volunteering your time is the most beneficial contribution you can make as a parent. The more involved everyone becomes, the better we can support the swimmers and make the team successful. We are a separate entity from the swim team itself, but we work closely with the coaches to support the team’s goals and our swimmers’ needs. We'd like to share some important information with you about our one-of-a-kind program....
The Truth About Bingo … and the SEVA Booster Club
Like any topic, there seems to be a great deal of information (and misinformation) circulating about Bingo as a fund-raiser for swim teams. The purpose of this document is to share the facts with you about the SEVA Booster Club’s Bingo Program and how it is different from other swim team organizations.
Optional
Choosing to work Bingo – and join the SEVA Booster Club – is totally optional. There is no “Fundraising Requirement” if you join the SEVA swim team. The SEVA Booster Club is a separate organization, with optional membership, that you may choose to join. You will be charged the same fees by SEVA whether you choose to work Bingo or not. During the 2008-2009 season, there were four other USA Swimming teams in Hampton Roads that had a Bingo program*. For each of those four teams (TIDE, ODAC, WAC and CGBD) working Bingo was part of a mandatory “Fundraising Requirement”. These organizations required families to work as many as 12-18 Bingo sessions per year as their “Fundraising Requirement”. Families who choose not to work Bingo are forced to pay a “Bingo Buyout Fee” as high as $3,600! (* information source for other teams: Team Membership Agreements and Team Websites)
Where do Bingo Profits Go?
The SEVA Booster Club is the only area swim team that uses Bingo profits to pay fees for your family and make the sport of swimming more affordable for you. This past season, Bingo revenues paid for SEVA Booster Club swimmers’: Lane Fees, Meet Entry Fees, Hotel rooms at State Championship meets and helped fund Team Trips to North Carolina and Fort Lauderdale. What do the other teams use Bingo profits for? On other teams, Bingo profits pay for team operating expenses (i.e. Coach’s salaries). Only on SEVA do families get a direct return from Bingo profits.
What do SEVA parents say about Bingo?
“Our first year on SEVA, our family chose not to work Bingo, or join the Booster Club. SEVA’s fees were still in line with that of other Peninsula-area teams we looked at. And SEVA was unique because there was no mandatory “Fundraising Requirement”.
– the Peterson Family.
“My husband and I joined the SEVA Booster Club and agreed to work Bingo together every other month (6 times). The financial return on our investment of time was phenomenal. Over the 2008-2009 season, Bingo profits paid the following expenses for our daughter:
- Lane fees/Pool Fees (short course & long course): $500
- Meet entry fees (12 meets): $450
- Three nights at Marriott hotel in Manassas at State Champs meet: $330
- Two nights hotel for Naval Academy Swim Meet $205
- Team Trip to Fort Lauderdale: $210
- Travel reimbursement for Virginia Swimming’s ZONE team: $300
All together, Bingo profits paid $1,995 of our swim team expenses this past year!”
-- The Shores family
