When the Rye Fund for Education promised to match 50 percent of donations to pay for a $40,000 softball scoreboard for Rye High School, 11-year-old Keira Crew stepped up to the plate.
Crew, a catcher on the Rye Middle School softball team, organized bake sales and raised $1,000 — earning a permanent spot on the dedication plaque unveiled at a recent ceremony celebrating the refurbished facility.
“I wanted to help pay for the scoreboard, because I look forward to playing on the high school team in a few years,” Crew said.
Softball has always been a big part of Crew’s life.
“I love that unlike many sports girls and women play, it is almost only played by girls,” she said.
To reach her ambitious goal, Crew held four bake sales offering an array of treats she had baked with her mother and grandmother, as well as lemonade. Cookies, bags of chips, and cups of lemonade went for $1 each. Brownies were $2 and fruit snacks two for $1.
Crew’s impressive sales were driven by her marketing strategy.
“I ran around Disbrow Park at baseball games advertising during slower times,” she said, noting that she made sure customers knew that 100 percent of profits went to support girls softball.
The most popular items? “Most people got brownies or lemonade, because everyone loves brownies,” she said.
Her table featured a Rye Girls Softball poster and paper lemonade cups in Garnet black and red.
Business boomed. On her most profitable day, Crew raised $300.
As it turns out, she’s no stranger to fundraising. Crew and her friends recently set up a stand in front of a friend’s house selling baked goods and crafts, with all proceeds going to the World Wildlife Fund. One day produced $325.
“It was hard work,” she said of her bake sales, “but I’m so glad I did it, because this has been an amazing experience. My goal is to make a difference, and I feel like I accomplished that. But I want to do more to support girls sports.”
The new scoreboard is the first the field has had, according to Genevieve Weber, Rye Girls Softball president.
“Ronda Gilroy, president of the (Rye Fund for Education), called me. I had no idea that she was looking to grant us 50 percent towards a new scoreboard,” Weber said. “A few weeks later, she called back saying the grant was approved and the community would need to raise the other 50 percent.”
The RFE ultimately contributed $19,781 toward the project.
The scoreboard is to be installed soon behind the fence in centerfield — with Crew’s name on a plaque nearby, Weber said.
As for Crew, her contribution to Rye softball already is a home run.
“I’m so excited to leave my mark on the beautiful new softball field that will last long after I graduate,” she said.
