NATCHEZ — With summer workouts wrapping up for the Natchez High School football team, so are the chances to help raise money for the Bulldogs.

Last Friday, the football team hosted a car wash as part of a series of fundraisers the school’s booster club has put on throughout the summer.

“Our booster club has been trying to have fundraisers at least monthly, so we’ve had a series of fundraisers planned for this summer, and that was one of them,” Bulldogs head coach Lance Reed said.

Reed said he felt good last Friday’s car wash, and might have another one at a future date.

“We felt like it was a success,” Reed said. “We only stayed out there two or three hours, but we felt like we did well as far as receiving donations. We’re probably going to try to do it again, since it was a holiday weekend and maybe not everyone was able to attend.

“We actually cooked some sausages and hot dogs, and it kind of ended up as a team picnic, and they ate it all up.”

Reed said those kinds of activities help boost the camaraderie between the players.

“We had some older players even come back and participate, so it was a good deal to see some of those guys get together,” Reed said.

For the Bulldogs, the increase in fundraisers corresponds to recent budget cuts that have forced the team to raise more money itself.

“I think we’ve gotten a little more sense of urgency to step up fundraising since our budget isn’t what it used to be,” Reed said. “We have to do things to supplement that which has been reduced from our budget from previous years.”

Next week, the Bulldogs will take an MHSAA-mandated week off from summer workouts. The Bulldogs will resume summer workouts the following week.

“We have one full week of workouts left before fall camp starts Aug. 1,” Reed said. “I think it’s kind of the end of fundraising, other than maybe one more car wash.”

Reed said the final week will be focused on evaluating where his players are after the offseason conditioning program.

“We’ll test to see the increases from our kids from lifting during the summer,” Reed said.

“We feel like many of the kids have had tremendous gains. We’ll also deal with any equipment issues to make sure we’re ready for our first day of (fall) practice.”