By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Mark McCord had to look back and think really hard about when he first started the Custom Threads / PEPP Club Scholarship for Lake Orion High School’s elite football players.
Now in its eighth year, the scholarship has provided ten Lake Orion football senior players with a $1,000 scholarship each to help continue their education.
At first, Custom Threads owner McCord could only award one scholarship a year. Through his persistence in spreading the word, and through the rallying of the Lake Orion Football PEPP club, that number grew to two lucky boys a year.
Now their goal is to give three $1,000 awards.
How does a local business fund this type of venture, one might ask?
By doing what they do best’selling custom made Dragon athletic shirts.
Since 2008 McCord and his wife Linda have been designing a different shirt every year to sell on behalf of the scholarship.
His theory is simple.
‘The whole idea is more community and student involvement,? he said.
As of now, most takers are football parents and their students, but McCord dreams of the day when a broader cross section of the community jumps on board and supports the scholarship.
He is even designing a second shirt this year to go along with the annual boy’s cut t-shirt’the female’s version. This year boy’s t-shirts will sell for $10, and the all-new girls v-neck t-shirts will sell for $12. Proceeds from the scholarship shirts are tucked into a fund, and depending on how much is collected determines how many scholarships can be given.
His designer and wife, Linda, incorporates two things into the shirts every year. The first is something related to ‘game day? whereas the second must-have is the football team’s slogan of the year.
This year the shirts sport an ‘LO? on their front, and this year’s slogan, ‘Work to Win,? on the back.
The magic all happens out of his family-run store at 2647 S. Lapeer Rd. with Linda and their three sons aged 19, 21 and 24.
‘We’re a community-based business, and were trying to put money back into the groups we do business with,? he said. ‘We wanted to do something more for the kids who are good teammates and good people in the community.?
Custom Threads has been open for 12 years, and before the scholarship even started, the business had been supplying much of the football gear to the PEPP club, players and coaches.
‘A lot of money was getting raised for the football team, but none of it was going to the kids for any kind of college scholarship. I thought it was kind of a shame to be raising all this money and none was going directly to the kids.?
So he asked Coach Chris Bell if he could get a scholarship going, and guarantee at least one $1,000 scholarship per year.
‘And if we were able to raise more money then we’d give more,? he said. ‘There’s no cap.?
Since he began, Custom Threads has sponsored $12,000 in scholarships.
McCord attributes his success of the scholarship, as well as his business through hard times in 2008, to his relationship with the community.
He stopped paying for advertising in the yellow pages, and instead put five percent of all his sales back into local, community groups.
‘This is good business,? he said. ‘Buying local is fine as long as that local business does something for the community. Part of being local is putting money back into the community if you can, and that’s what we choose to do.?
McCord would love to get other sports teams involved with their own scholarships, and encourages other teams to step up and get involved.
Anyone can purchase scholarship shirts directly from Custom Threads or at the games from the PEPP club.