HHS students, parents, and sponsors smile for a picture on the Terry Pettit Court at the Bob Devaney Sports Center September 7. The group provided concessions to 8,456 spectators in attendance of the UNL Montana State volleyball game. Photo courtesy of Delta Fajardo.
A new fundraising opportunity has arisen for HHS students to run concession stands at home UNL volleyball and football games starting August 31 and running through November 23.
The fundraiser is part of a program at UNL that allows Nebraska high school groups to run UNL football and volleyball concession stands as a fundraising option for school activities.
One thing Delta Fajardo, who responded to an email Athletic Director Tracy Douglas had forwarded about the opportunity last spring, liked about the fundraising option was that it took the burden off of people having to buy goods from students for fundraisers.
“I think we get saturated a lot with things people buy, so like cookie dough, candles, in my case, pies. I mean, everybody in Hastings is getting hit up, and rightly so,” Fajardo said. “I mean that we make money where we can, but this is something where it’s an act of service and they’re offering, and all the money is going to us, instead of a percentage, it’s all coming back to us. So again, you can’t really say no to that, and I think it takes a little bit of the burden off the community.”
After responding to the email, Fajardo became the contact person for HHS and decided to reach out to sponsors of academic activities since they don’t have a booster club that helps with fundraising.
“I decided to work on the academic side, and so like performing arts and all of that kind of group, because I don’t know if we have boosters technically, for this group of people, I know that sports tends to have a lot of booster, like support, or at least I think based off of my knowledge. So I said, ‘You know what?’ I’m going to offer it to these groups and whoever wants to take it, wants to take it,” Fajardo said.
It has been cool for Fajardo to see the student turnout for the fundraiser. For the second and third games HHS students have attended, HHS had so many students signed up to attend that UNL assigned only HHS students to run the entirety of concessions at two home Husker volleyball games.
“The second time we had basically almost 60 people. They’re like, ‘We can’t put you in the football pool. So tell you what, we’re going to give you all of the volleyball concession stands.’ So it was just us the last two games; both volleyball games have been Hastings and Hastings only. And I think that’s just phenomenal. It’s amazing,” Fajardo said. “And of course, we got a picture on the volleyball court, the kids loved that. And then we got a picture out in front of the Memorial Stadium. So I would say that the pictures were great. And the fact that we got the volleyball games to ourselves the whole time (was really cool).”
One of the things junior Maecie Pfeil enjoyed about the fundraiser was getting to run the concession stand with other HHS students.
“It feels like I’d say a field trip slash road trip because it’s very exciting to do,” Pfeil said. “I mean, obviously it’s exciting to get that money, but I would say it’s like a field trip because it’s something you get to do for the school, like you’re surrounded by other students.”
Fajardo has been proud of the students who have gone to the fundraisers and how well they have been doing.
“Like I said, I am proud of what we’re doing. If they didn’t think that we were doing a good job… I don’t think they’d let us come back with as many people as we’ve been bringing back… And yet, they’ve been allowing us to bring as many people as we have,” Fajardo said.
Pfeil would recommend doing the fundraiser to another student because of the skills it can help build on top of helping financially.
Pfeil also enjoyed the fundraiser because of the skills it can help build on top of the financial benefit.
“I definitely would (recommend the fundraiser to someone else), because it builds up that sportsmanship, it builds up the relationship with other people, and it gets you, like if you’ve never worked a job before, it helps with that too,” Pfeil said. “And so it can help with talking with other people, like speaking with strangers. It definitely helps, and it can also help financially, which is another reason why I would recommend it.”
Pfeil has appreciated the opportunity to raise money through the fundraiser because it allows her to pay for her fees so that it isn’t on her parents shoulders.
“I definitely would (participate in the fundraiser again next year) because it helps out a lot with fees and how much everything costs,” Pfeil said. “And to be honest, it’s easy. It really is easy, and it’s a great solution for trying to find that money even with families that don’t have much money… so it’s a great opportunity for us to get that money (while) getting something out of it,”
Pfeil would say that her favorite part of the fundraiser has been talking to people buying concessions.
“I’ve always liked talking to people, and usually you get a laugh out of it. Like, when they’re like, ‘Oh, why do they not take cash anymore?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I just work here,’” Pfeil said. “It gets pretty funny sometimes, and like I said, the emotions wave, but getting that laugh and seeing a whole bunch of nice people is so amazing to me.”
Fajardo would be interested in continuing the fundraiser as an opportunity in the future and has appreciated what students have learned from the fundraiser.
“It was a little disorganized, both on UNL and on us a little bit this year, but I think next year will be a lot more organized. I just really hope that they don’t limit us (on how many students we can bring). I don’t want them to limit us, because it’s been so helpful. I think so many kids have gotten a lot out of it, and thank you Hastings Senior High for saying yes and letting us do this… They didn’t have to say yes, but they did, and we’re really grateful.”
