Who Helped Pay Your Way?

One of the things I love about this community is the celebration of deep ethnic roots. I’m a card-carrying member of the Hunky Club, I have danced a few nights away at Slovene Center, and I think the renovations inside the Sokol Club are AMAZING (you really should check them out!).

Part of my heritage is Dutch. There’s no Dutch club around here, but a family member has this sign posted next to the coffee maker in their home:

  

I love these rules and try hard to live by them. 

The list is simple, clear, and concise.

And these rules (like the meals I eat in this house) stick with you. 

While the last rule is one of my favorites, the entire list is great! Especially Dutch House Rule #3. 

Despite our best intentions, I’m sure we can all think of times when we borrowed something but forgot to return it… or forgot to return the favor.

Or maybe we borrowed something without realizing we were borrowing it.

Many of us “borrowed” something in high school, for example, without even knowing it – the cost of participating in sports or the band!

Let’s consider the new pay-to-participate fees for students to take part in sports, marching band, and color guard at Barberton High School. 

How many of you reading this participated in those activities when you were in high school?

If you did, did you ever think about it costing money… or who was paying for it? 

When times are hard financially, these sorts of realities bubble up. “Oh, I didn’t realize it cost that” is a common phrase I’ve heard from folks lately. 

This pay-to-participate situation is hard, and it’s no one’s preference. 

But alongside the frustration, there is also room for gratitude for the thousands of boosters, volunteers, teachers, coaches, administrators, family members, neighbors, friends, and fans who have poured their time, talent, and money into these programs over the years. Their support helped create an environment where many of us could participate without ever stopping to think about what it actually cost, or who was helping make it possible. 

It is in this spirit of gratefulness that I found myself in dozens of conversations over the past two weeks with people who valued being able to participate “for free” when they were at BHS, or who place a high value on removing barriers to opportunity for our young people.

I am grateful that our community has an institution like Barberton Community Foundation, where gratitude can evolve into generosity, resulting in a new fund (called the Barberton Student Opportunity to Participate Fund) that will help many families and kids by covering the pay-to-participate fees for eligible students! 

A big thank you to some generous folks I have talked to in the past few weeks who are helping to seed this fund, including Ms. Sue Cianciola, Mr. Jeremy Clemetson, Mr. Dan Durbin, Mr. Joe Giovanini, Dr. Doug Gormley, and others who we will announce soon.

Dutch House Rule #3 keeps it simple: return what you borrow. That rule is bigger than a casserole dish or a borrowed ladder. Somebody paid your way once… for the game, the band, the chance to belong. In our community, some kids are going to need someone to pay for theirs. Wouldn't it be something to be the one who does?

In Community,

Josh Gordon
Executive Director
Barberton Community Foundation