
Help Us Save Our League and Defend Our Volunteers
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Help Us Save Our League and Defend Our Volunteers
My name is Debbie Perales, and I am writing to you as the current President of Northeast Tarrant Little Miss Kickball (NET). NET kickball is a non-profit girl’s kickball league in Watauga, TX. Our league’s purpose is to teach young girls the game and have A LOT of fun in the process. More importantly, we emphasize community, sisterhood, friendships, while promoting good sportsmanship in the spirit of competition.
Any player or family that has been involved in Little Miss Kickball understands how special this sport is for our community. In a world full of expensive club, select, elite sports organizations, kickball is a unique activity where all young girls can participate for $100. And if they cannot afford that, our NET board members do whatever it takes to provide scholarships and waive fees.
NET kickball has been a part of the DFW area for over 32 years. Our league is run by dozens of unpaid board members, volunteers, and local families. NET kickball is only possible because of our volunteers and board members. They dedicate hours of their personal time and money for the love of these players and this game.
On behalf of NET kickball and the board members, I am setting up this campaign to raise funds to help pay current legal fees and expenses.
In June 2022, a former board member, who is also an ATTORNEY filed a lawsuit against NET kickball and several board members. The lawsuit is based on two board decisions: 1) The board decided to not allow ATTORNEY to coach an All- Star Team and 2) The board decided to conduct an audit of the league’s election after evidence showed that several member votes had been manipulated. TEN board members voted that it was in the best interest of the league to conduct of an audit of the league’s election simply to ensure that the ballots were cast properly. TEN board members voted that ATTORNEY should not be coaching an All-Star Team. Those ten board members are the defendants in this case.
According to the settlement offer, the attorney wants $20,000.00 for legal fees, all defendants (who are parents and family members of players involved) to “immediately resign” from any position, and all defendants to agree to not serve in any “authoritative position” not only at NET, but ANY Little Miss Kickball League in Texas for the next ten years.
What will happen to the money we raise? The donations raised in this campaign will go straight to legal fees in this lawsuit. Any unused donations will go to a scholarship fund for the players. The ten volunteer board members are a group of parents (moms, dads, grandmas, aunts). They have spent a significant amount of their personal funds on legal fees. Several board members can simply not afford to pay, and therefore other board members have covered them. NET kickball is a small nonprofit that cannot afford thousands of dollars in legal fees.
We have a group of fantastic attorneys that have minimized the legal fees and expenses for this case as much as possible. However, the anticipated fees going forward to defend could cost anywhere between $25k to $75k (depending on how far ATTORNEY draws out this litigation).
Please help us keep NET kickball alive and well in our community. We are grateful for all the help we can get. NET has meant so much to so many through the years and our prayer is that it will continue to serve all girls for many years to come. A little, a lot, we are grateful for all the help we can get.
Thank you for your kind contribution.
Organizer
Debbie Perales
Organizer
Fort Worth, TX