Restore The Glory

Athletics Department, Facilities, etc.
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WIU0812
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The Restore the Glory campaign was successful even though it fell a little short of its goal. They were able to increase Leatherneck club members to 650 and the total dollars donated to $636,000. This is the highest membership in 13 years! Good work everyone and may the Leatherneck Nation always continue to grow. I hope they really start advertising this better at the games as well and maybe even have a sign up donation area at each football game cause when I was at WIU as a student I had no idea the leatherneck club existed.

http://goleathernecks.com/news/2014/7/1 ... =athletics
wiu712
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That's a big increase!

To grow even more, we may want to consider a "Young Alumni Leatherneck Club" membership program.

Appalachian State does this.

Recent graduates of Appalachian State are able to embark on a lasting relationship with their Yosef Club and Appalachian Athletics at a reduced rate. Any new graduate/young alumnus can join at any annual gift level for 50% of the minimum gift while receiving full benefits for that level. This remains in effect for the first five years post-graduation.

For example, an undergraduate in the Class of 2014 can join the Yosef Club at graduation at the Golden Mountaineer level (regularly $1,500) for $750, and may do so through the 2019 membership year.

It's something to think about.....
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WIU0812
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I really like that idea as those students are just getting out and will be lower on funds, but with the higher benefits they will be more apt to joining.
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sealhall74
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That big building in the lower left of this facebook picture
needs a huge larger than life mural or something on the outside walls. Is that the Heating Plant Annex /3d art studio facility. If it is already hosting some artsy kind of projects, makes sense to take that art outside. If it is big and bold enough, it would add to the Hanson Field game-day experience IMO.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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ST_Lawson
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That's a great idea, except that building might not be there for too much longer.
One of the parts of the Master Plan is to build a new heating plant on the north end of campus (north of DPS and the Physical Plant) and get rid of the current one. Although that is supposed to be Phase III, so it could be at least a few years.

I wonder what the possibility of a giant banner or something would be? That way there'd be something less permanent and won't get destroyed when the building comes down. A giant banner might even be able to be moved to another building if needed. Then again, I have no idea how expensive something like that would be.
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Western Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
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WIU0812
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This is kind of like last year when we talked about getting all the flags on top of the press box and bunch of people talked about donating but never happened. We need someone associated with school who cab get a yes from someone that if the alumni donate something they will hang it. Then that person could start a kick starter which seems to be an awesome place to raise money for things like this and can kind of act as a coordinator. This of course would be focused on athletics as the alumni association takes care of other donations and what not. Just would be nice to see some ideas acted out when we have individuals willing to help.

For those of you who do not know what kick starter is see link below.

https://www.kickstarter.com/
wiu712
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Putting Purple "WESTERN" flags on top of the west grandstand should be a relatively easy task. The old flagpole holders are still there.

Long-time Western fans will remember that we use to have the flags of the other conference teams flying there.
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WIU0812
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I think that is what started the conversation last year and a few people offered to pay to buy some flags to hang, but would need someone to talk to tommy bell before and it just never happened. Any idea how many flag holders there are up there?
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WIU0812
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I sent Tommy Bell an email seeing if he would be interested in flying these flags if the Leatherneck Nation was able to raise enough money to fill all the holders on Press Box. I also said that it would most likely look better if it alternated between the WIU Flag and the NCAA Flag to break it up. I will let everyone know what he has to say and then go from there. If he decides to go ahead I will get a price for the total number of flags. I did a quick search and it appears that the WIU Flags run $30 and the NCAA flags run $20 without tax or shipping. So I would set a price on a gofundme site and if for some reason there was any change left over I would just donate with flags to Tommy Bell. It looks like it would be between 250 and 300 assuming that there is 8 holders for each team in our division. That is a rough guess including shipping cost of something like $20 which could be more or less and tax.
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WIU0812
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Where exactly are the original flag holders located on the grandstand?
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