Gifts to Permanent Community Foundation Fund Will Help Resurface 10 Courts
WATERTOWN —The Watertown City School District Educational Foundation, a permanent fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation, is seeking charitable donations to resurface the 10 tennis courts at its Washington Street campus.
This worthwhile community project will greatly benefit students, tennis team members, and the Frontier League. Watertown High School hosts the annual Frontier League Tennis Championship Tournament for boys and girls tennis. The 10 centrally located league courts make the venue attractive for this event. The city also hosts a tournament on the courts each September.
The original tennis courts were installed around 1953. The present courts were resurfaced in 1973 and again in the late 1980s or early 1990s. In 1997, the courts were repainted. The courts presently have 800 feet of cracks in them and the surface is weathered.
The project also involves conversion of a former basketball court into four pickleball courts. The Watertown City School District Booster Club has agreed to a donation of approximately $31,000 toward the tennis and pickleball courts project. The North Country Tennis Association also supports the project with donations from its organization and members. Carthage Central School District, Copenhagen Central School, Alexandria Central School, Immaculate Heart Central, Indian River, Beaver River, and Lowville Academy are also actively helping to secure gifts for the project as well.
Gifts made to the Northern New York Community Foundation can be directed toward resurfacing the tennis courts, converting the basketball courts, or to the general project fund. Secure online gifts may be made at nnycf.org or mailed to the Northern New York Community Foundation, 131 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601, attention Watertown City School District Educational Foundation. All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
An online store offers the sale of T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and other items with proceeds helping to raise money for the project. For each item sold, $10 will be donated to the project. Items are available in all Frontier League school colors and read “Frontier League Tennis” on the front and “You Just Got Served” on the back. Patrons can visit the online store at https://stores.inksoft.com/frontierleaguetennis/shop/home. A bottle and can drive to support this project will be announced later.
Watertown hopes to be home to future Section III tournaments and tennis clinics. There are no other facilities outside of colleges and universities or private clubs in Section III with 10 courts.
Contact George Emrich, Watertown City School District athletic director, 315-785-3833, or gemrich@watertowncsd.org, to learn more about how you can support this effort.
About Public School Educational Foundations
The Watertown City School District Educational Foundation was established in 2014 as a permanent fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation.
In New York state, public schools cannot permanently endow funds as they are limited in the way they can perpetuate scholarships, especially those created as a memorial, with the intention that they endure. More than a dozen schools in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties partner with the Community Foundation so those funds can continue in perpetuity.
In recent years, donors have also expressed interest in supporting their favorite local school in either a broader or more directed way, for things other than scholarships. Through school educational foundations, alumni, parents, teachers, retirees and others for whom their school holds special meaning can leave a legacy. Donors may also designate a specific use and fund name.
About the Northern New York Community Foundation
Since 1929, the Northern New York Community Foundation has invested in improving and enriching the quality of life for all in communities across Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.
Through partnerships with businesses and organizations, charitable foundations, and generous families and individual donors, the Community Foundation awards grants and scholarships from an endowment and collection of funds that benefit the region. Its commitment to donors helps individuals achieve their charitable objectives now and for generations to come by preserving and honoring legacies of community philanthropy while inspiring others.
The Community Foundation is a resource for local charitable organizations, donors, professional advisors and nonprofit organizations. It also works to bring people together at its permanent home in the Northern New York Philanthropy Center to discuss challenges our communities face and find creative solutions that strengthen the region and make it a great place to live, work, and play.