Facing a season already beset by challenges, the Canby Cougar football team chose not to punt on their most popular annual fundraiser: Cougar Cards.
The $25 cards — which offer hundreds of dollars in discounts to a wide variety of local restaurants and stores — are typically sold door-to-door, with prizes being offered to the players who move the most plastic.
For obvious reasons, that wasn’t going to be a possibility this year.
“We are not selling door-to-door for the safety of players and our community,” explains head football coach Jimmy Joyce. “This is the first year we have sold online. Each kid has an app and will be contacting people to purchase.”
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Cougar Cards are here! Please follow the link https://t.co/jwEX3Gc2dP Because of covid all sales will be made electronically for now, a card will be mailed to you after your purchase! Thank you for the support @CanbyCurrent @CanbyAthletics @CanbyHighSchool pic.twitter.com/gBX6hj6FnR
If you haven’t heard from anyone yet, Cougar Cards can only be purchased at this link, which allows you to pick your own player to attribute the sale to.
The numbers are important, because hey — this is still football, and the stats matter. Players will still earn prizes based on how many cards they sell, from 10 (a free Dutch Bros. drink and Canby Cougar-branded neck gaiter) to 50 ($100 Nike gift card).
“We want every player to sell 20,” Coach Joyce said. “We will have a limited number of cards available to purchase with cash in person, but not until mid-November.”
The Cougar Cards are “by far” the team’s biggest fundraiser, Joyce tells the Current, raising around $20,000 each year, which goes toward new uniforms, helmets and more.
“It all goes back to the kids in one way or another,” he said. “And with limited fundraising opportunities because of Covid this year, card sales are more important than ever.”
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I dig the Canby Cougar Card!! Great deals to be had! Whose going to sell me a Cougar Card? I mean really sell me the card. Not just knock on my door & say “Hi, I’m (enter name), would you like to buy a Cougar Card?” Really sell me!
Despite having to alter their sales strategy, the team is hopeful for their prospects this year — simply because the Cougar Cards are amazingly popular in Canby.
Door-to-door or not, they pretty much sell themselves.
“It is amazing the support we receive,” says Coach Joyce. “I get at least five emails a week asking about when they go on sale. Our athletic secretary, Heather Britt, probably gets even more.”
Sponsors for this year’s cards include Cutsforth’s Market, the Backstop Bar & Grill, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Biscuits Cafe, Los Dorados, Dairy Queen and many others.
The Cougs are also planning a lift-a-thon fundraiser for Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Players will do three lifts — bench press, hang clean and squat — with sponsors choosing to donate per pound, per rep or a lump sum.
For more information, contact Coach Joyce at jimmy.joyce@canby.k12.or.us.