Justice High School Rowing Boosters Letter to Supporters 2024-2025

Justice Rowing Supporters:

Justice Rowing has established itself as a strong competitor in the high school sculling regattas. As we reflect on an incredible 2024 year, we want to share some highlights from our season and express our gratitude for your continued support. Your generosity has been instrumental in helping our student-athletes achieve remarkable success both on and off the water. We are looking forward to building on this strength this year, but we can only do it through your continued financial and volunteer support and involvement.

2024: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The Justice Rowing team had a successful spring 2024 season, marked by strong performances across several key regattas. In the regular season regattas, both the Men’s Junior Quad and the Women’s Senior Quad secured first-place finishes, demonstrating the team’s depth and talent despite challenging weather conditions. At the Walter Mess Regatta, even with a smaller field due to holidays, the Men’s and Women’s Senior Quads continued to excel, taking first place, while our other boats also achieved notable placements. The Al Urquia Regatta brought fierce competition, particularly from Charlottesville crews, pushing Justice Rowing to some of their fastest times of the year, with multiple boats finishing in top ranks.

What a weekend for the Virginia State Championships! Out of six entries, our rowers achieved remarkable results, including two fourth-place finishes and three second-place finishes. Highlights include the Women’s Senior Double and Quad, and the Men’s Senior Quad, who all delivered strong performances in highly competitive fields.

We ended the season competing at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the largest high school regatta in the world, where our athletes demonstrated their skill and resilience. The junior women’s quad and men’s junior double showed significant improvement, with the men’s double advancing to the semifinals. This experience has set the stage for even greater achievements next year.

We are incredibly proud of our rowers’ dedication and hard work this season. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the support of our families, friends, and generous donors like you. As we look forward to the next season, we aim to continue building on this year’s successes and strive for even greater heights.

2025: THE YEAR AHEAD

Coach Nate Carmody will continue to lead the coaching staff with the support of Coach Kitty Knell and Coach Dan Lyons. Justice has the best coaching staff of all high schools in Virginia! We are also continuing Justice Rowing’s all-sculling program which means we will have some new equipment needs that we’ll need to fill before the season begins. We look forward to developing our younger rowers and recruiting new ones to continue our strong tradition at Justice High School.

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT JUSTICE ROWING

Justice Rowing receives no funding from the school or county and relies entirely on the generous support of our community, our fundraisers (listed below), and annual student dues. Dues cover roughly half of our operating budget with the other half coming from fundraisers and donations from supporters like you. These vital contributions enable us to keep the program running and provide scholarships to students in need, ensuring that rowing is accessible to everyone. Here’s how you can make a difference:

🎄WREATH, POINSETTIA, AND COFFEE FUNDRAISER

Place your order now through October 30. Items will be available for pickup on Sunday, December 1, 2024. Visit the Justice Rowing online holiday shop to place your order. Our goal is to raise $10,000 this year through the Wreath, Poinsettia, and Coffee Fundraiser!

🚣🏾 FOR-DOLLAR SCULLING OAR SET

A generous family from the Justice Rowing community has offered to match every dollar donated towards a new set of sculling oars. Contribute today and see your impact doubled! Our goal is to raise $2,600 for a set of sculling oars.

🛶 FRONT CONSOLE STEERING AND OUTBOARD MOTOR

This year we are retrofitting one of our launches with center console steering and a new outboard motor to make it easier and safer for the coaches to work with the rowers while on the water. Our goal is to raise $3,600 for this new launch setup.

🛟 ROWING SCHOLARSHIPS

Justice High School Rowing Boosters never lets cost be a barrier to participation on the Justice Rowing Team. Donate to help offset the team dues for those rowers who need financial support. Our goal is to raise $3,000 to support these rowers.

A contribution of any size will help. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent of the law. You can make your donation using the Campaign QR codes in the letter mailed to supporters, directly through our website, or by mailing a check to: Justice High School Rowing Boosters, P.O. Box 2377, Falls Church, VA. 22042.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT

We understand that not everyone can contribute financially, but if you’re able, we truly appreciate your generosity. There are also many other ways you can support Justice Rowing:

Harris Teeter Together in Education—Link your Harris Teeter VIC card to Justice Rowing by going to Harris Teeter’s Together in Education webpage and type in “5829 Justice High Crew Team” as your charity of choice every school year.

Restaurant Nights—Local restaurants will support us by donating a portion of their profits on select evenings. Stay connected through justicerowing.org, email, Instagram (@JusticeHSCrew), or Facebook (Justice High School Rowing Boosters) to learn about upcoming restaurant nights. Your participation makes a big difference!
Volunteer—As we begin our pre-season for 2025, there are many ways to get involved with recruitment efforts like the Lake Barcroft Open House and the Glasgow ERG program. We’re grateful for the ongoing support of alumni parents who continue to help our team year after year. Let us know where you’d like to contribute.

Thank you for your continued support of Justice High School Rowing. We appreciate it!

Go Wolves, and Row Strong!

Justice High School Rowing Boosters 2024-25 Board of Directors

Matthew Hardy
President

Stephanie Friel
Vice President

John Blackadar, Jr.
Treasurer

Adrian Niño
Secretary

Justice High School Rowing Boosters is recognized as exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to this organization are deductible under Section 170 of the Code and we are eligible to receive tax-deductible bequests, devises, transfers, or gifts under Sections 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Code.
The Federal Tax ID Number is 54-6074527.

Click for the full letter as a downloadable PDF to share.