Roselle Park Dads Club
Proudly serving the youth of Roselle Park since 1934
To start 2025, The Roselle Park Dads Club sent a letter to the Board of Education to introduce ourselves and outline our recent donations and support of our student athletes.
Since the submission of this letter, the Dads Club also donated about $200 for a breakfast for students, families, and coaches during RPHS College Signing Day.
“Your contribution helped make this event a special and memorable occasion for our senior student-athletes as they celebrated their achievements and future endeavors,” said Athletic Director Peter Kane. “Your belief in the importance of recognizing and inspiring our athletes is invaluable, and we share your hope that this event continues to grow and motivate future Panthers.”
Below is the letter to the Superintendent Patricia Gois and the BOE…
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Ms. Gois and the Roselle Park Board of Education,
The start of 2025 may be a good time for the Roselle Park Dads Club to check in with the Roselle Park Board of Education to explain our mission and outline our recent support of the school district.
Some of you may have heard of our group and seen BOE agenda items of our donations. The Dads Club – a nonprofit organization – has been making donations to the Roselle Park school district since 1934, when a group of fathers got together to help the school system. It established the following mission statement:
The objectives of this organization shall be to work in close cooperation with High School coaches, teachers, Board of Education and governing body of the community, in a sincere effort to create a fuller and more productive life for the youth of Roselle Park, believing that in so doing we are helping to make better citizens of tomorrow.
Indeed, if you look around, you’ll see evidence of the work of the Dads Club over the decades – scoreboards, the football field press box, the field house and snack stand, plaques in the gym hallway, and more. We also give thousands of dollars in scholarships each year and support annual wrestling tournaments. Our main fundraising event is our annual golf outing. We have plans for some additional events in the future.
Today, we are trying to continue the mission and relevancy of the Dads Club generations after its inception. In total, over the last 18 months or so, we’ve raised and donated more than $30,000 to the school district.
We cut a check to the Athletic Department in June 2023 for $10,000. The new banners around the tennis courts, welcoming athletes and guests, was one way in which these funds were used.
In 2024, highlights included donations toward the town’s wrestling programs, support of tournaments, TSA trip, boys basketball, and t-shirts for girls and boys conference championship teams. Last year also included the donations of a television to the football team and a new taping station for our athletic trainer.
We will start 2025 off with a donation of more than $4,300 toward the purchase of a new wrestling mat to be used by boys and girls of all ages.
To state the obvious — times have changed. What once was an organization with many volunteer members has dwindled. Nevertheless, we do our best to contribute where and when we can, and we have some additional contributions in the works. Our main objective is to do good for the kids. We want Roselle Park to strive, succeed, and swell with pride. Though our main focus is on athletics, we’ve extended support to other programs. We have had great communication with AD Peter Kane and periodically invite coaches to our meetings to provide updates to remain on top of team/individual accomplishments, and needs.
The hope is that this serves as an introduction to our group and goals. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
RPDC board