Last week, the Demopolis Quarterback Club held two fundraisers for the football team. The father-daughter dance was held Thursday night, and the Draw Down was held Friday.

I had the pleasure of being able to cover one of those – the Draw Down – and see first-hand the level of community support Demopolis High School generates.

Actually, you can’t stay in Demopolis for very long without seeing the pride this area has for the school as a whole. It doesn’t matter whether it is sports related, the arts or academics; this community takes pride in the school system here and it shows.

The Quarterback Club was able to raise $13,500 Friday night for coach Tom Causey’s team.

The Draw Down is an event in which the club tries to sell 299 tickets for $100 each. Table tennis balls representing each ticket are placed in a hopper. From there, numbers are removed one at a time until only nine remain. Once that point is reached, club members raffle off the 300th ticket. After that ticket is claimed, the 300th ball will be placed into the hopper. The last remaining number wins $8,000.

“The support this community shows the team and the school as a whole is tremendous,” said Causey after the event. “It’s great to be a coach in Demopolis.”

After the winning ball was pulled out, sending Skip Fields home $8,000 richer, I talked to the event’s chair, Leretta Garrett, whose son plays on Causey’s team.

“Coach Causey is a tremendous asset to Demopolis. He not only takes these boys and builds them into football players, but he is building them into men as well. When you have a great program and coach like we do, you want to do all you can to meet any needs they have.”

The money raised will help buy equipment for the team.

In the same fashion, other community organizations are stepping up to help other school programs, making sure the students and instructors have everything they need to make these programs successful. They do it for their kids, they do it for their city and community, and they do it because we have excellent educators who strive to tap into the best in our children.

In a time of growing financial uncertainty, this type of community support will inevitably play a larger and more vital role in our educational structure. Sitting back and relying on the schools to provide everything will no longer be an option. If we want the best for our kids, it is going to take parents and the rest of the community stepping up to the plate and getting involved.

The Demopolis school system, and Demopolis High School in particular, has already done that. Last week’s events are just an example of the kind of support this community gives their schools. People in Demopolis have a lot to be thankful for to have a great school like DHS, and the schools have a lot to be thankful for to have the tremendous support they have from the community.

John Few is a reporter for the Demopolis Times.