“We moved to Turtle Lake in 2022. I went to my kids’ track and field meet (elementary school) the first year they were in school, and I saw what the track looked like.
I had also gone there to work out and I was like, oh, this is bad.
It’s asphalt. I saw my kids run (elementary school) track and field and have this awesome event and I was like, why don’t we have a facility that matches this really cool event? We have a track and field team. What is going on?
I found out there had been for the last nine years a committee of coaches, other people who were concerned about the track, community members, and parents of athletes. I joined that committee, and I said: ‘what can I do to help’?
As a concerned citizen, as a runner all my life, this was so important to me. I want other students to have those same possibilities in their life, because running really has been invaluable to me as a person.
Students who are seniors now, have never had a home track meet (in their home town). It has been over a decade since we were able to host a home track meet that is safe. We do not have a surface that is safe. It does not meet WIAA standards. It is not rubberized. It is not completely eight lanes. So, we cannot host track meets.
Right now, the Board of Education has committed to starting the project May 1.
Our Board of Education has not committed to funding the entire project as it stands. They have asked the superintendent to raise $300,000, and then they would go in with an additional $300,000.
We live in a small area, with a population of about a thousand. That’s a lot of money for us.
The school board has also asked the track committee to raise money. We’ve already raised $62,000. They’ve asked us to raise an additional $50,000 to help pay for the field area.
We are working on our 2025 calendar of events with the fundraising.
We did a fun run on a Saturday in May (2024) after the elementary school track and field day. We will probably have that again this year.
We have a website and we have a donation page through the school. Donations can be made anytime there.
We’re thinking that we will probably do a brick fundraiser; putting names on bricks so it can be added to the facility.
We have an opportunity to really support every student through the track facility and the community at large to have a safe spot to run and for walkers. It means a lot in small towns because we don’t have all of the facilities, all the trails, all the recreation pieces.”
Editor’s note: You can find more information about their efforts on Facebook at ‘Turtle Lake Track Supporter Committee’
Donations can also be made online at the link below:
https://payments.efundsforschools.com/v3/districts/55199