ER Alumni Group Raises $70K

The East Ridge Alumni and Supporters Association announced at its monthly meeting held last Monday its fundraising efforts have been a success.

In a newsletter detailing the meeting, the group said that it raised $41,750 from its recent reunion weekend and a total of $70,741 since its founding last year.

The group was formed after the razing of Raymond James Stadium in August 2015. The association is raising money to be used to build ancillary facilities at the football field such as locker rooms, coaches’ offices and concession stands. New aluminum bleachers for the stadium are slated for construction in mid-October and will be funded by Hamilton County.

According to minutes of the meeting, the group will survey its membership in regard to future fundraising efforts. A suggestion was made to host a tailgate party at the ERHS Homecoming game on September 29. That tailgate party will focus on increasing membership and awareness of the association.

A discussion took place regarding artist’s renderings of potential structures the group wants to contribute funds to at the high school’s athletic facilities. It was noted that Hamilton County Commission has requirements for bids, utilities and facilities.

Due to the upcoming Labor Day holiday, the next meeting of the group will be on Monday, Sept. 12. That meeting, the minutes state, will be a “work session” to assemble and distribute thank-you letters to all donors, volunteers, contributors and supporters for funds raised to date.

For more information about the East Ridge Alumni and Supporters Association click here.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.