The 2011 Football Season will soon be upon us and this letter is to remind and inform you of upcoming pre and during season events. You should have all received a packet from Coach Herman, which has all the information, forms and schedules that your son will need to start the season. Also, enclosed in this packet was a letter from the Touchdown Club. On the back of this letter is a list of activities that we need help with before and during the season. I ask that if you have not sent in this form, that you take a minute and do so now. As you may or may not know, we serve dinners, make breakfast before Saturday home games, purchase jackets for returning lettermen, help purchase equipment and uniforms for the players, where the school budget falls short. We also give players, coaches and cheerleaders sweatshirts, T-shirts and awards at the end of each season. We award 5- $1,000.00 scholarships to 4 senior players and 1 senior cheerleader who will be continuing their education. These are the kinds of things that we as a club are here for, but we need your help. Doing these things takes a lot of money. So, please plan to help us with the following fundraisers. After all it is your son and/or daughter that you're supporting when you join us and help. The more parents and friends of Vineyard Football that volunteer to help, the smoother and easier all our planned activities will run.

The Jr. High Football & Cheerleading programs are part of our organization. This means our budget is larger than ever. We plan on including the Jr. High players and cheerleaders in many of our activities. These players and cheerleaders will have their team photo and schedule on our website and in our home game program. We look forward to watching them play.

Below are the important dates and events that we will need your help with. Please look over the list and call me ASAP to sign up for an event. We have a section in our By-Laws that talks about Parent Participation. Parents will be given an assignment to work at the Ag Fair, annual auction, booth for home game, dinners and breakfasts and other activities. You will be required to participate in at least 2 events. Call Juanita Espino at 508-693-6381 now for your choice of assignments!

Important Dates and Events

1.We are starting to work on getting the program together. This is the booklet that we have during home games. We need your help in getting ads. You can download these forms from our website. If you own a business, work for someone or know someone, who may place an ad in our program, we ask that you approach him or her. It would be nice if we could, at the very least, have your family’s name in the Fans’ Corner section of the program. Don’t forget to ask those wonderful grandparents, aunts and uncles to have their names in the Fans’ Corner, too. You can contact Denise Lambos, 508-627-5428, if you have any questions. All checks should be made out to MV Touchdown Club and sent to address on the top of this letter, ASAP. Forms must be received by September 9, 2011. Please help to make this year's program the best ever.

2. We have two upcoming home scrimmages, one Saturday, August 27th and one Saturday, September 3rd. We will be having a cookout for all the players after the scrimmage. We will need help with the cookout from about 10:30 to 1:00pm. Please call Juanita or me to sign up to help.

3. We have started to build our new permanent booth at the High School field. Tom Pierce has come up with a wonderful design, which includes a ticket booth at the end for the High School’s use. This booth will allow us to have all our things in one place and not have the expense of 2 storage units. Estimated cost of building is $15,000. We need help to build it, but more importantly, we will need to get as much materials donated as possible. If you have any contacts, please call Tom ASAP at 508-627-4691.

4. Wednesday, September 7th is our Kick-Off Banquet at 6pm in the High School cafeteria. This is a potluck dinner. All players’ families are asked to bring a dish that would feed their family plus one more person. Cheerleader families are asked to bring desserts. If you are unable to attend this dinner with your player/cheerleader, we ask that you still send him/her with your potluck dish, so as there will be enough food for all. A Touchdown Club meeting will be held after the dinner, so please plan to stay for a short time.

5. Saturday, November 5th will be our 16th Annual Auction. Once again, this year we are having the auction at the Holy Ghost Association, which is in Oak Bluffs. We will be having hors d’oeuvres and a dinner prior to the auction. Each player/cheerleader is responsible for acquiring at least 2 items for the auction. The more items we get to auction off, of course, means that we will be able to help with the purchase of equipment or other needed things for the Teams. No item is too small because we have tables set up for silent auction items. Enclosed find 2 forms needed when acquiring your auction items. Feel free to make copies for acquiring additional items. Summer is the best time to go to Island businesses, so please get those items, NOW.

6. Touchdown Club meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is on Wednesday, September 7th right after the Kick- Off Banquet. During the season, however, Touchdown Club meetings are held on every Wednesday before a home Varsity game. These meetings are held at 7 pm in the Health Room of the high school. We hope that you will come and get involved. When you get involved you show your support for your son and/or daughter and the Teams.
Please feel free to contact one of us at home between 6pm & 9pm, if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Denise Lambos, Executive Secretary 508-627-5428