It is that time of year again, people are sneaking in their last summer vacation, the county fairs are almost over, the state fair is approaching and student athletes are washing cars to raise money for their sports teams.
As the summer winds down, there have been three Raider teams that have held their car washes, well, two school teams and a travelling team. Girls Soccer and Football have both held their car washes at Shanne Lanning’s Farmers Insurance next to McDonalds and the travelling softball team held theirs at The Dugout which is in the old movie theater.
Shane Lanning is a long time Raider athlete and coach and each year since he has been at his location at 1350 South Frontage Road, he has helped Raider athletes, coaches and families with their car washing fundraisers. Lanning has the four most important pieces of a car wash fundraiser, water with good pressure, hoses (and the connectors), space to hold it and tunes. Yes, the kids need their music during their few hours in the sun working.
The teams use the funds raised for a variety of things. Football used to use a large portion of it for the pre-game dinner’s milk purchases, but this year, Cub Foods and Kemps have stepped up to donate the milk, saving the team around 800 dollars. The money they raise will go towards training tools, uniforms and other items needed to run the team.
Swim and Dive will use their funds for things like team shirts, team trips, equipment, state meet apparel, additions to the diving video system and they are also saving up for a new scoreboard at the middle school.
Even though three of the car washes are in the books, there are currently two more known car washes coming up. Girls Swim and Dive will hold their fundraiser on Saturday, August 24 and Girls Tennis will hold theirs on Saturday, August 31. Both at Shane Lanning’s Farmers Insurance lot and both from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All of the car washes are donations only, so, it is a give what you can set up.
The term ‘car wash’ is also used loosely. They have washed motorcycles, there was once an RV washed, side by side off road vehicles, and this year, the football team washed two goats. (Metal display, not live goats.)
Someone should get Dale Lewis to bring in a fun sculpture to get washed, surely that will get the kids excited. Either way, go support these kids and enjoy the fun they are having with the team building and fundraising experiences they create.