BMS Locker Room Renovation Project Moving Along, Opportunities to Help Remain
By Chris Johnson on May 20, 2024
The renovation project for the Bridgeport Middle School football team’s locker room has reached the point where there is work that remains yet there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The area being renovated is the building between the weight room and the new bathrooms at Wayne Jamison Field. The BMS football team uses the back part of the building for their locker room area as do the high school team’s opponents. The high school girls track and field team uses the area. In the fall, the high school girls soccer team uses the front area.
Now that track season is over for 2024, work on the project should pick up.
“We wanted to get some stuff done before they started,” said BMS football coach Robbie Buffington, who has spearheaded the renovation project. “We were able to get a lot of stuff done before they started but the main thing is we had to have the room usable and safe for those ladies.”
The biggest part of the renovations is the installation of new lockers which is on target to begin sometime in June.
Buffington has been thrilled by the amount support the project has received from the community and said there is still time to help.
The GoFundMe page can be accessed HERE
“We were getting ready to close the GoFundMe to deposit that money to take care of the electrician, but we decided to wait,” Buffington said. “Check, GoFundMe, any kind of donation, this is the last real chance to help before the lockers get here.
“The final bill will be about $29,000. It’s mostly covered. I feel good but I’m always going to be cautious when you are dealing with close to a $30,000 balance. When we write that final check, then I can exhale and say we did it.
“The funds look good, we still need a little push and the community has been great so far. I would like to have some ‘just in case’ money because you don’t know what might come along where you need funds for.
“We still have some people who have pledged to help. I think from a school point of view and with our boosters, we would like to get those in before school ends. It would be helpful for us to know where we stand when we go to pay off the remainder of the lockers. We’ve made the down payment, and the lockers are in production, and they will be here in mid-June.”
Extra doors are being installed between the new main areas where if middle school football is in the back area and soccer up front they can be shut to provide each team with more privacy.
Buffington said Bridgeport High School is looking for an area of the project to help out with and that may end up being in the direction of new audio speakers but nothing has been finalized yet.
Also, there is a possibility that they could a Dicks Sporting Goods Grant for $5,000 that we be used to proxy the floor.
Editor's Note: Top photo features Buffington discussing where the lockers will go and in the bottom portion of the photo the color scheme for the new lockers can be seen on the cards. The bottom photo is of the new coaches office in the locker room.
