Football stadium still short of goal

Michael Miller

Brian Sankey made a valuable contribution toward a football stadium

at Estancia High School -- where he may be playing in two years. The

Estancia sophomore, who plans to try out for the football team this

fall, raised more than $500 for Costa Mesa United’s “Million Dollar

Memorial Day” fundraiser last month.

On Saturday, Sankey was rewarded handsomely for his efforts, as he

won Costa Mesa United’s grand prize drawing at its annual fish fry.

But he nearly missed his moment of glory.

“I didn’t really know until my mom read the newspaper,” said

Brian, 16. “I was there, but I didn’t hear them pull my name or

anything.”

At the grand prize drawing, Costa Mesa United put into a hat the

names of all the students who had garnered $500 or more for the

group’s $9.4-million fundraiser. When the newly crowned Miss Costa

Mesa, Crystal Farthing, drew Brian’s name out of the hat, he won a

$250 gift certificate for South Coast Plaza, Disneyland tickets,

Orange County Fair passes, an upgraded iPod with credit for 25 songs,

and more.

In the end, Costa Mesa United -- which seeks to build the Estancia

football stadium and an Olympic-sized swimming pool at Costa Mesa

High -- fell far short of its goal of raising $1 million from the

city’s sixth- through 12th-graders. However, contributions like

Brian’s netted the group more than $30,000, putting its total

resources at around the $4 million mark.

“A lot of students really took this to heart,” said United

president David Brooks. “Some had their grandparents write a check.

Others, you could tell by the way the money came in, it was a lot of

small donations.”

Kayla Ortiz, a sixth-grader at Davis Elementary, led all students

by raising $1,200 from family and friends. She won $500 in cash and a

$500 scholarship for college.

Costa Mesa United launched its Million Dollar Memorial Day drive

on May 16 at every school in Costa Mesa that services the sixth grade

and above: Rea, Davis and Killybrooke Elementary, TeWinkle Middle

School and Costa Mesa and Estancia High. Each student was given a

packet with donation slips to solicit funds from friends, family and

neighbors.

Brooks proposed a personal goal of $500 for each student, a number

that 31 of them ultimately achieved.

“We just thank them for their participation, and for the

community’s participation, and for the support they’ve shown for this

project,” Brooks said. “Without their support, this project would not

be doing nearly as well as it is.”

Over the past year, Costa Mesa United has held a number of

fundraisers and acquired sponsorship from Balboa Instruments, Newport

Rib Company, Kingston Technology and other businesses. In April, the

Costa Mesa City Council pledged $1 million toward the high school

projects, although the actual money will be subject to availability

of funds.

City Councilwoman Katrina Foley, a board member of Costa Mesa

United, said the group hoped to start construction on the stadium and

pool in fall 2006, and that it was working on another community

fundraiser for the fall.

Despite coming up short of $1 million in the school fundraiser,

Foley was impressed by the students’ dedication.

“What I was pleased to see is that TeWinkle and Davis, the

sixth-graders, they were amazing,” Foley said. “It was nice to see

the sixth-graders that are so young get so motivated and behind the

cause.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller @latimes.com.