It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a booster club to raise a Bulldog.

The Old Rochester Regional Athletics Booster Club, now in its eighth year, is already working hard to ensure another strong year of school sports. The club is responsible for raising money to buy equipment, scholarships or other costs relating to the athletics program.

Shaun Walsh, president of the Booster Club, says he joined by accident.

“When my oldest daughter was a freshman, she came home one day and said Coach Lawrence wanted me to attend a meeting at the school about sports. So I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But it was a booster club meeting!”

By the time he joined, many of the founding group of parents had kids who were seniors.

“Booster clubs have a high turnover,” Walsh says. “Fortunately we have a core group of parents involved with everything we do, and we have the support of team parents. I think we’ve slowly, over the past few years, increased the number of active parents. It’s a good group now.”

The boosters hold numerous fundraisers throughout the year. Raffles, concessions, seasonal sports booklets and “cash calendars” are just a few things the group does. Cash calendars involve selling customized sports calendars with the chance to win prize money.

The club’s two biggest fundraisers are the Senior Superlative Gala in November and the annual Phonathan in March.

The Gala, thought up by principal Mike Devoll, is a red carpet event for seniors held in the school auditorium. Walsh says seniors are nominated for certain categories in the yearbook such as “most likely to be elected president” or “best eyes” and the winner is presented with an award.

The annual Phonathon brings in around $20,000 a year, according to Walsh. Parents organize the event, but student athletes do all phone calls. Proceeds from this year’s Phonathon went to purchasing new elliptical trainers for the school’s fitness center.

“The revenue we raise has become more necessary.” Walsh says. “When the school budget gets cut back, one of the first places to see effects is the athletics program. The booster club has served a much bigger role than it used to. Now we’re finding ourselves in the position of providing things like uniforms. A few years ago, the school would provide those. Now we’re working with the teams more to help with fundraising.”

Walsh says as long as there are sports, there will be boosters.

“My family moved to the area 13 years ago, and one of the reasons was because of the strong school system,” Walsh says. “I didn’t know too much about the athletics until my oldest daughter starting playing field hockey and running track. I was really impressed with the quality of the athletics here. The coaches are excellent. Bill Tilden is a phenomenal athletic director.”

For more information on the Old Rochester Regional Athletic Boosters Club, send an email to boosters@orrathletics.com