Small Town Values

In small towns, traditions are things that everyone holds on to closely, especially when it comes to football and the community. Friday nights in the fall are nights where families get together and have a chance to get excited watching young talent and hard work pay off. The only issue is when you don’t know any of the names that are being announced for the starting line up.

In Mccook one summer tradition involves the football team's players go individually or in groups door to door to sell coupon booklets that are meant to cover all of the costs for their coming up season. This gave a chance for the players to get out in the community, introduce themselves, and show their dedication and hard work. The proceeds from the sale of these booklets covers the cost of camps and their team shirts and results in more attendance at the games.

The coupons in said booklets were for local businesses ranging from an ageless drive in restaurant to a golf course. Many of the smaller businesses were included, but so were larger corporations.

In the rapidly growing environment of today most things are going digital. Things such as menus in larger cities.

The McCook Bison football team has now switched to selling their booklets online. The locations that you can use the coupons at have broadened and are not limited to businesses in McCook.

Only 70 percent of the online donations and selling of the online booklets go to the players. This is the same as the alternatives they sell from Joltin Jo’s from their chocolate covered coffee beans, teas, and coffee grounds. They also sold hats. The boys also don’t receive the full dollar amount for these. Only a small percentage of the purchase made does.

Some might see this as a great development because now you don’t have to find 25 dollars to give to the player to support their fall sports season.

Some might also say this could be taking away from the community and the value that it brings to the small town of McCook.

Many parents are doing the work for them by posting on social media. It could be seen as “helping out” your child, but when it comes down to a simple link there isn’t much stress to put on selling these kinds of things. Especially when your family from out of town can get use out of these coupons.

Communication is something that was lacking with the start of going digital. One would think that making the booklets digital would be a huge talking point of the town, yet a lot of parents and relatives of players were left in the dark and not aware of how much money would actually be going to the player.

An anonymous source who is on the football sportsYou sent a broad message asking about sponsors which some players might rely on to raise the money to meet their quota. Sponsoring for a specific player is something that is new to a lot of past parents to the players and even some past players.

The source who sent the message to the group later had their post deleted by the admin of the group. They stated that this has not been the first time their question had been deleted by an admin.

Jayleen Evans states,”You’re losing them going door-to-door selling coupons to local businesses.”

Taking away from a community can be a gateway into derailing the close knit community that has been built over several years.

Jacob Gomez-Wilson says,” I like it in the easier aspect, but going door to door builds character and shows personality.”

Gomez-Wilson was a former player for McCook who did go door to door and built a sort of clientele with people who he repeatedly went to each year to sell his packets.

Joltin Jo’s which is a small coffee business is a huge part in the community.

Shonda Jacob’s an employee that is constantly working the store said,”We’ve always had a lot of coupons come back from the booklets. Today someone came and used one in fact.”

This shows that the coupons have been used in the past and even promoted the brand.

Small towns should stay local. Yes they should grow, but the structure gets lost when traditions are no longer traditions.