[Mr.Frishman]

As one of the lead mentors for a team that is not connected to a district or any major sponsor I know where 306 is coming from. Our team (3999-Shadetree Mechanics) was formed with the intention of allowing any student from any district(or Home School) to compete.
Our school district does not fund our team or even recognize its existence. For the first year I raised over $25000 through grants and fund raising. That number got cut almost half in the second year. It looks like we will be losing 3 major sponsors this year as well. While we may be able to replace some of the funds we will have to ramp up fund raising to cover the expense of going to a second regional in 2014. In the first 2 years we were only able to attend 1 regional. We have the entrance fee ready for the first regional in our account and we will start fund raising for the second one knowing that we need to raise about $4000.
The team is in the process of securing some new sponsors for the coming year. I can tell you that it is much easier and more palatable to a sponsor to let them know that any donation will help. 10 sponsors at $500 per year will insure that you have enough to attend at least 1 event. Please let me know if there is any way we can help as we go through what you are going through now on a daily basis.