About FOGRI
The GHS Crew Team would not be possible without FOGRI's financial and volunteer support.
FOGRI is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide educational, operational and financial support to the Glastonbury High School Crew Program and be a resource to the community on issues relating to crew. We have contributed about $1,400,000 to support GHS Crew Operations and the Boathouse Campaign.
IMPORTANT CONTACTS
Person | Title | Email |
|---|---|---|
Leah Galjan Post | President | ctposts@gmail.com |
Julie Thompson | VP/ Volunteer Coordinator | jmt06073@gmail.com |
Catherine Freeman | Secretary | catherinefreeman923@gmail.com |
Open | Treasurer | |
Allison Gormley | Food Crew Treasurer | aligormley@gmail.com |
Dan Morris | demorris150@gmail.com | |
Sandy Oullette | Fundraising Chair | phaseoneid@cox.net |
Andrew Simon | ||
Mary LaChance | Webmaster | mary.lachance@gmail.com |
Emily Fanelli | Food Crew Coordinator | efanelli@wethersfield.me |
Open | Social Media Chair | |
Trish Witkin | Athletic Director | witkint@glastonburyus.org |
Charles Watt | Boys' Head Coach | charles.watt@uconn.edu |
Jason Post | Girls' Head Coach | jason.post@uconn.edu |
Jack Impronto | Boys' Asst Coach | improntoj@gmail.com |
Sean Peoples | Boys' Novice Coach | speoples@bpslawyers.com |
Brian Speers | Girls' Assistant Coach | speersb18@gmail.com |
Julia Canova | Girls' Novice Coach | j.canova44@gmail.com |
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We are pleased to have been able to provide approximately 80% of the total cost to run the crew program on a yearly basis since its inception in 2001. Funding has been made possible by generous contributions made by crew member families, relatives, FOGRI Board members, charitable foundations and other supporters.
VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION AND RECRUITMENT
Supporting the large crew program requires the work of dozens of volunteers to ensure the safety and success of all of the athletes, coaches, and spectators. We oversee this by recruiting and guiding the volunteers who provide invaluable services in a number of areas.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Through on ongoing commitment to provide education and opportunities related to the sport of crew for the community, we act as a liaison to the people of Glastonbury and beyond for issues related to the sport. Through our boathouse committee, we have been actively involved in providing feedback and participation to the Town of Glastonbury and its contractors relative to the proposed boathouse and its surroundings at Riverfront Park in Glastonbury.
WHAT WE DO
Our Board of Directors is comprised of approximately 14 members who are all volunteers. Our members come from different segments of the community, and their vast backgrounds include former and current rowers and coaches, lawyers, accountants, boaters and sailors, small business owners as well as many crew parents.
We meet an average of once a month during the school year to execute the business matters pertaining to our support of the GHS crew team as well as any issues related to rowing within our community.
Friends of Glastonbury Rowing Inc. is charged with many responsibilities to fulfill our mission to provide educational, operational and financial support to the Glastonbury High School Crew Program and be a resource to the community as it relates to crew.
FOGRI History
In the fall of 2000, a group of girls from Glastonbury High School approached Jeff Carstens to help form a crew club. Jeff, a retired aviation engineer and former Princeton University rower, quickly assumed the role. His rowing experience as well as his background as a crew coach while he was in graduate school made him the perfect candidate for the job. He quickly assumed the role of advisor and coach for the club while his wife Dale took on the job of organizing volunteers to manage the docks, run the safety and coaching launch boats and provide support to the rowers.
The club sport had tremendous success and popularity, and it became a co-ed varsity sport in 2003. Today it operates as a dual season sport in the fall and spring of each school year and has historically been the largest team sport at GHS for many years. Since its inception as a club sport, it has provided well over 1,000 students from our community the opportunity to learn and excel in the sport of crew. As a result, many students have been recruited by colleges and universities due to their rowing experience. Many have returned to the team during college breaks and upon graduation to join our coaching staff.
In November of 2001, Jeff Carstens founded Friends of Glastonbury Rowing Incorporated (FOGRI) for the purpose of supporting the GHS Crew Program. This non-profit organization operates exclusively for charitable and educational purposes within the definition of section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Over the years FOGRI has donated tens of thousands of dollars towards the purchase of crew shells, oars, storage racks, coaches salaries, launch boats and engines as well as other equipment and fees necessary for operating a crew program with safety as its first priority.
FOGRI was heavily invested in creating opportunities for community access to the CT River and worked closely with many town agencies on the Riverfront Park project. The park was dedicated September 27, 2014, and completed the town's reconnection to the CT River. The boathouse provides a state of the art and safe and secure home for the athletes and their equipment. For our residents, it provides recreational opportunities on and off the water. FOGRI and its capital campaign committee reached their fundraising commitment to the town of $250,000 as of Sept. 2014, just nine months after they started!
FOGRI continues to work within our community in many different ways to support the GHS crew team and the sport of rowing. We hold many fundraisers including the fall Ergathon, spring Lyman Orchard pie sale and Flamingo Flocking. Past fundraisers have included pancake breakfasts, hosting the River Run, and the new rowing shell campaigns: Pulling for Pink, Pulling for Pride and Pulling for Pulse.
We are very proud of our history and look forward to enabling the crew team to grow and diversify while enabling the public to learn more about this great sport. We are grateful to Jeff and Dale Carstens for the vision, dedication and creativity in making the sport of crew a reality at GHS and thankful to the countless contributors who donate to our organization and help us achieve our goals within our community.