It’s time to ramp-up our GoFundMe campaign to help our colleagues, who have been hit hard by COVID-19 (since there aren’t any high school sports to cover) or the overall downsizing (firing or laying-off reporters) industry-wide.
One week ago, Trish Hoffman and I took our various High School Football America platforms to raise money to pay high school sports reporters, who have been sidelined for the reasons mentioned above. With high school sports reporters on the chopping block, this means that our student-athletes, coach, teams and communities aren’t being promoted and that’s what we’re all about at High School Football America.
As I mentioned Easter Sunday, High School Football America WILL NOT be taking one penny of the donations. In fact, we’ll be taking money out of our budget to pay all fees associated with the GoFundMe campaign.
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Every cent will go to giving assignments to sportswriters, who will be hired as freelance writers for us. Each will receive $150 per story that will appear on www.highschoolfootballamerica.com.
Our $30,000 campaign received a shot-in-the-arm earlier this week when acclaimed New York sportswriter Mike Vacarro of the New York Post tweeted about the our cause and also donated the first $100.
This is a terrific idea and I encourage all of my sportswriter brethren (and sister’n) who may be in position to lend a small hand to laid-off scholastic sports reporters to consider. https://t.co/ckVMMsSGDm
— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) April 15, 2020
I can’t thank Mike enough for his support.
Our great friend Mark Ball, a longtime Texas high school football coach and Hall of Fame Athletic Director, became the second person to donate, which took us to $200, which means we’ll be able to hand-out our first assignment.
Now, here’s where things get tough.
I thought we’d have raised more money to this point. $200 is great, but I’m now going to start calling-in favors from my friends, who are still employed members of the media. We NEED your help in spreading the word, so we can help our colleagues.
I’ll be calling, emailing and tweeting everyone of you, looking for your help in getting the word out. Knowledge is power and your story or tweets will help with awareness.
Listen to GoFundMe Podcast
If you’re reading this now, please feel free to reach-out with any questions you have.
If you’re unemployed, PLEASE email or DM me on Facebook or Twitter, so we can add you to the list for an assignment. We have quite a few already, but Trish and I believe we will reach our goal of handing-out 200 story assignments.
Finally, if you are unemployed and sitting on the sidelines, we’d love for you to share your stories here, so we can get America to understand what the country is missing without your coverage.
Again, thanks for taking the time to read this. If you can’t donate, please spread the word to your friends and family.
Jeff & Trish
