Booster Club Bolsters Sports Programs

The Babylon Booster  group boasts 125 members and runs several substantial fundraisers through the year for sports equipment purchases and high school senior scholarship awards and is always looking for more hands to help and more money in its efforts.

This year is no different and with the Homecoming barbeque event and  Halloween Dance checked off the events to-do list the group is busy planning the annual Spring Fling event held in March. Every two years it also sponsors Babylon Wall of Fame activities. Last June the group inducted seven new honorees. 

"We are always trying to expand our efforts and expand our scholarships," Doug Sutherland, club president, told Patch. "Everyone is welcome to join and get involved," says Sutherland, who has served as president for four years.

Each year at its annual Varsity Award Dinner in June, the group presents a scholarship in honor of longtime resident and outstanding citizen Ernie Busch, as well as Boy and Girl Athletes of the Year Award. Those latter awards, though, aren't honoring just athletic prowess.  Winners are chosen on the basis of an essay entry describing what the athlete did during the season to make their team perform better.

"It's not about applauding the superstar players. We want to also honor those athletes with kind tand strong motivation skills," says Sutherland, whose youngest child is now a senior in the high school.

The Booster Club meets at 7:30pm every second Wednesday of the month at village hall. Membership dues are $15 and  checks can be mailed to the Babylon Varsity Booster Club, P.O. Box 55, Babylon, NY 11702.

Club membership is likely to be in full-force Saturday afternoon when the varsity football team kicks-off its first playoff game against the Hampton Bays Baymen.

For more information interested supporters can email Sutherland at doug9494@yahoo.com or visit the group's website. And if you can't make the game, you can keep up on game play by becoming a Twitter fan and visiting group's Facebook page.