SEBASTIAN, Fla. — Shark pride runs deep at Sebastian River High School. This week, alumni and coaches showed their school spirit through a new fundraising effort. Seventeen local businesses came together to raise more than $10,000 for new play clocks for the varsity football program.
Coach Phinehas Weatherly said equipment issues have made it difficult to run an effective offense for years.
WATCH BELOW: Businesses rally to buy high school new football equipment
"For the last four years, it's been a battle of trying to get a working play clock, which is essential when you're trying to run an offense and keep it moving and not get delay games," Weatherly said.
Weatherly said each repair cost thousands of dollars — a price a high school football program would struggle to keep up with. He turned to Facebook for help.
"I made a Facebook post saying, hey, I don't know who needs to hear this, but this is ridiculous. Not to compare us to other schools, but they get a lot of stuff and we can't even," Weatherly said.
Shark alum Bryan Rhoades saw the post and took action, sharing his own video online asking the community to step up.
"I need five business owners or people, whoever, to match my $1,000. We can get this done," Rhoades said.
Rhoades owns Airbnbs in the area along with River Ride Cart Rentals LLC. He offered to donate $1,000 and encouraged other businesses to do the same. The response was swift.
"Within like an hour I had $2,000 and within I think three more days we had $10,350," Rhoades said.
The old play clocks were stationary and had suffered significant wear and tear over the years, requiring repeated electrical repairs and parts replacements. The new clocks are a much-needed and quality upgrade.
"They're lit up, they're bright and they're bigger than I thought, they're great. They roll around so they can keep them out of the weather. It's going to be great for the team," Rhoades said.
For Weatherly, the community response meant more than just new equipment.
"For the longest time, it seemed like we were just getting pushed to the side. And to see that there's people out there that still care and want to support and want to help, you know, it was great. It was amazing," Weatherly said.
Rhoades said the outpouring support reflected the character of the Sebastian community.
"They just want to get out there and help. That's what it comes down to really. You know what I mean, the kids," Rhoades said.
Reminding everyone, a small act of kindness, or in this case Facebook post, can generate solutions to fix an old, costly problem.
"Everybody is out there still trying to help each other, still willing to give and be part of the community and make things better for the kids," Weatherly said.
The new play clocks are expected to debut at Sebastian River's next home football game on Oct. 2 in Sebastian.
