A fresh approach at fundraising helped Libby High School put tens of thousands of dollars in the bank to support future endeavors.

The Libby Loggers held their first annual Hour-A-Thon fundraiser on Jan. 30 in the Libby High School gymnasium. When the new campaign ended on Feb. 7, a little more than $45,000 was added to school coffers.

The event was meant to get student athletes to participate in fundraising for Libby High School athletics without overwhelming local businesses, school Activities Coordinator Nik Rewarts said.

The event’s premise was that students were given one hour to send 20 texts and to make 20 phone calls asking for donations.

“That night we were at about $26,000,” Rewarts said of the calling event that took place on Jan. 30.

The school’s goal is to move to one big fundraiser, the Hour-A-Thon, and not focus on ticket sales or advertising to fundraise for athletics.

“We just hope to grow it, get better at it next year, get more kids involved and get more excited about it. I think the big benefit will be for our small businesses in Libby," Rewerts said. "Back when I was in high school in 1999, I remember fundraising. We need to give them a break. They are outstanding and they give us so much in our school district. We hammer some of them and they never say no,” Rewarts said.

The school decided that approaching businesses for 14 different athletic activities at separate times didn’t make sense, according to Rewarts. Every activity does rely a little bit on fundraisers in order to afford anything above and beyond the budget, such as practice clothing and some devices that help with the sports.

After debating what the school could do differently they partnered with Top Notch Fundraising, a company based in the Flathead Valley, to hold the event. After pondering the idea for a little while, school officials decided to do it this year.

“We didn’t have a huge turnout. We only got about 60 of the 120 kids who do activities,” Rewarts said.

Still, the school has raised a good amount of money, he said. The school’s goal was $100,000, but Rewarts understood that it would take a few years for the fundraiser to gain traction.

“That's still a big, big gain for us, now we have some things with this, for each team whatever they fundraise they get,” he said.

Rewerts said the school will take a small percentage to give to big ticket items. The concession stand bathroom and the press boxes at the football stadium are being rebuilt and the softball field needs a lot of upgrades, Rewarts said.

The school has recently embarked on another fundraiser to help pay for work at Logger Stadium.

In a letter from Libby Public School Superintendent Ron Goodman that was posted Feb. 7 on its Facebook page, he wrote that safety concerns regarding the Logger Stadium concession building recently came to light.

“To have this project completed in time for the spring sports season, the Board of Trustees, with the recommendation of the administration, have hired a contractor to begin work,” Goodman wrote. “We are hopeful Logger Nation will help us fund this extra-curricular project so we can retain our resources for other critical maintenance concerns.”

According to the information in the social media post, sponsorships are available from $100 to $2,500. Depending on the level of giving, sponsors will be recognized at season events, program inserts, on the sponsorship wall and other ways.

For more information, call the school office at 406-293-8877 or email sd4@libbyschools.org.

In the future, Rewerts said it would be nice to have power and a scoreboard at the soccer complex. Livestream cameras, about $6,000, are also on the wish list, Rewarts said.

“These fundraisers are ways we hope to get all these things, just to help our facilities and to help our athletics be a little more successful,” he said. “This isn’t necessarily for you next year, this is for our Logger athletics for the next 15 years, we are a community – our Loggers athletics.

Logger athletics encompasses a broad range of activities he said. For some sports fundraising can be difficult. Speech and drama, for instance, is not a spectator sport.

“They had a disadvantage because they got home 3 a.m. from their state meet but they are still participating,” Rewarts said of the Speech and Drama team.

Unfortunately the school didn’t add band and choir this year, but they will add them to the fundraisers in the coming year’s events, he said.

“They travel, they get motels, they have uniforms,” Rewarts said. “I shoulda had them be a part of it.”

Overall Rewarts said he would like to thank everyone for their generosity.

“High School athletics are not just the kids on the field, it takes a whole community to make them successful,” he said.