Sound Shore

A group of local parents was able to fundraise almost $500,000 in a month to keep the Mamaroneck school district’s plans to renovate its high school field alive.

After a bond resolution to renovate the field failed this past spring, the district needed $465,000 by Nov. 1 if they wanted to get the project done by next school year. The group Fields for Kids stepped in and announced this month they raised the entire amount.

“The window for fundraising was extremely short,” Fields for Kids president Jim Hanley said.  “But the demand for this field renovation has been building for over a decade, so people were ready and waiting to give.”

Fields for Kids started in 2006 to help the Village of Larchmont raise more than $1.5 million to build fields at Flint and Lorenzen parks. Now, the group has shifted its focus to Memorial Field, the tattered ground at the high school that can turn into a swampland of mud from an afternoon of light rain.

Renovating Memorial Field will take place in three phases and will cost around $3.8 million. The project will include the new turf field, overhead lights and a running track. Fields for Kids is helping the school district raise money for the first phase of the project, which will cost $1,365,000. The district has received a handful of state and private grants to finance the remaining $900,000.

If all goes well, Superintendent Paul Fried said the school district can break ground on a new field after the spring sports season.

(Photo courtesy of Fields for Kids)