Dan O’Connell, the athletic director at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine, spent Friday on the school's roof in a fundraising effort that exceeded expectations.
As reported by local CBS affiliate WABI, John Bapst director of communications and development Matt Smith came up with the idea for O'Connell to spend Crusader Day on the roof. Crusader Day raises funds in support of athletics, the arts and other school programs.
“Maybe if we put Coach O up on the roof, people would pay money to get him down,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell got to the school’s roof at 8 a.m. determined to not come down until they reached $33,000 raised.
But after $40,000 was raised before noon, O’Connell set the new goal of $55,000, WABI's Connor Magliozzi reported late Friday afternoon.
“Well, I wish I could tell you I was surprised. I’m not. When we draw attention to this small school at 100 Broadway, the people that have been involved with this place for 97 years really go to bat for us," O'Connell said, as reported by Magliozzi. "It fills us with a pride that is special, but more than anything, it lets these students know how much they’re appreciated and how much people in the community appreciate the efforts that are going on here and that they want that to thrive years to come, and so to be able to be part of something like this, like I said, it’s not surprising that the generosity comes forward, but we’re awful grateful for it,” O’Connell said.
O'Connell has said the need for funding doesn’t stop even when they’ve hit their goal. According to Magliozzi, the school has turned it into a competition where alumni from different decades are competing to raise the most money.
