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HOPEWELL VALLEY GRIDIRON CLUB

HOPEWELL VALLEY

GRIDIRON CLUB

​EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

Head Coach

David Caldwell  |  (609) 532-8933
 

Secretary

George Helmstetter  |  (609) 558-2665

 

Treasurer/ Merchandise Coordinator

Kelly Ottobre | (609) 209-6548

Executive Members

Tracey McKeown ! (609) 468-0899
Mike Barker  | (609) 915-2135


​COMMITTEE LEADERS

Discount Cards

George Helmstetter 

Concession Stand

Diane & Dave Hemmer
 

Program Book / Field Signs

Michelle Taylor

George Helmstetter 

Directory / Database

Dave Caldwell

Mike Barker

 

Merchandise

Kelley Ottobre

Year-End Awards Celebration

TBD

Pre-Game Meals

Laura Florio Ellis

Website/Social Media

Nick Helmstetter

Amy Pszczolkowski

Video - Camera Systems

George Helmstetter

Car Wash

Amy Pszczolkowski

Soci

CONTACT US

Thanks! Message sent.

The Hopewell Valley Gridiron Club is the Booster Club for the Hopewell Valley High School Football Team. The Gridiron Club is a family of kids, parents and a community that supports the football program in the high school.

The Club started as HIKE (Hopewell Involved in Kids Enrichment) and was the driving force behind relaunching the football program at Hopewell Valley in 2002-- after not having football as a sport for 70 years! 

Mission

​The mission of HVGIC is to provide Football related activities at the high school level. 

This will increase opportunities for the growing youth population of our valley’s kids to enrich their lives and better prepare them to compete in our ever-growing diverse and global society.

Objectives & Goals

Our Vision is that Hopewell Valley’s Kids will join all other New Jersey Group III schools in the American tradition of competing in interscholastic youth Football at the High School Level.
 
Our expectation is that Football will bring a wealth of increased opportunities for the students to include cheerleading, concession management, audio/visual communications, marketing, statistics, sports medicine, nutrition, and live entertainment with a Marching Band!
 
Our competitive world demands we enrich our kids with the resources available to us, provide them broad opportunities in their development, and encourage them to experience all life has to offer so they may grow to be all they are capable of being.

HVRSD goal congruency.  Adding a fourth elementary school to our community and expanding the high school demonstrates our need for inclusion of this nationally recognized sport.  The Hopewell Valley Regional School District's Belief Statement states “… that ALL students are entitled to the opportunity to maximize their talents and abilities.”  Please, review the facts and HVGIC!

HVGIC/HIKE is a 501(c)(3) organization.  HV Gridiron Club is also registered with the State of New Jersey as a Charitable Organization. All financial documents can viewed from the State of NJ. PLEASE contact your company to see if they will donate to HVGIC and claim that donation as a tax exemption. Please use  HVGIC's federal ID number - 02-0611960. 

History

Hopewell Valley's Pop Warner (a nationally recognized youth football league), started in 1999 with less than 100 people involved (a handful of volunteers and three boys teams).  They had no cheerleaders, no home field, no marketing, no statisticians, no concessions, no public address system, and no one to sing the national anthem. Today, they are proud of their 9 football teams with 4 cheer squads to support them. They have their own home field, complete with concession, press box, score board and over 300 kids involved.​

As these Pop Warner kids move on to the high school, there was a problem. There wasn't a high school football team for 70 years! 1932 was the last varsity team. Attempts would be made to start a team but the school board refused to fund it.  With a Pop Warner crowd pushing it, it made it to a "sports" referendum in April 2000. As expected, the Sports referendum, ($53,000 of it was slated to start football) was soundly defeated by a 2-1 margin. Of course, this didn't stop the overwhelming support to have a team. State law at the time required all failed referendums to wait one year before inquiring to fund it once again. This being by public or private funds. So, after  one year, football supporters tried again. And given no funding from the board, the supporters of football decided to organize and offer a plan to fund the program themselves.

So, during the winter and spring of 2002, HIKE (Hopewell Involved in Kids Education) was born! The board accepted a plan for HIKE to pay $69,000 to start and fund the team. They offered to practice and play their games at the Pop Warner field and even pay for the buses to get them there and back. So in 2002, some 70 years later, Hopewell Valley fielded their first high school football team. Even though it was a freshman team (consisting of freshman and sophomores), the game was  attended by over 1200 people and represented the most successful beginning ever to hit this school. Finally there was an opportunity for 75 "more" kids to play and support a team. This was, of course, without controversy. There were residents that controlled the fate of football for so long and now it was starting without their consent. Since then, the success of the HV Bulldogs keeps growing and improving. Kids have the opportunity to play and are getting better opportunities for scholarships and futures with colleges.

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