Community raising funds for track repairs at Topsail High School

HAMPSTEAD, NC (WWAY) — Repairing the track at Topsail High School has been quite the hurdle for the past few years. But some members of the community are doing what they can to get over it.

“Us doing pancake fundraisers or whatever else little fundraisers we can do and collect $300 to $500, that’s going to take years to reach our goal,” Stacey Bufalini said.

All Bufalini and Becky Filer want is for the track at Topsail High School to get repaired.

“I would say to some of the other teachers and coaches, ‘ you know, this track really need to be redone’ and I was constantly told ‘oh it’s in the budget, in the budget,'” Bufalini said.

They say potholes and ridges fill the track, making some lanes unusable. Parents say for the past few years, the track repairs get pushed aside for something else in the budget. They decided to take action and got the okay from the principal.

“In the past, we’d been told that they had it under control and they didn’t need any help with it and at this point this year, he said ‘No, if you want to go ahead and get involved, that would be great,'” Filer said.

They both believe it’s worth it to invest in the field for the future of the school’s teams.

“I feel like just getting the track up to date, it’s going to attract more kids. We’re going to have more potential and Topsail has an awesome chance of being one of top state running teams,” Bufalini said.

If the school district does replace the track, then these parents say they would use money from the GoFundMe to repair the shot put and long jump areas, which also need work.

WWAY reached out to the athletic director about this fundraising effort. A Pender County Schools spokeswoman said no one can speak on this issue until after it goes before the board, but they are thankful for the community’s support.