Donor Spotlight:  Bill Lasher On Supporting Erie Yacht Club Foundation

Bill Lasher, long-time Erie Yacht Club Foundation donor, volunteer and former board member, recently shared his motivations for supporting the EYC Foundation.  Bill reflected that he was fortunate to grow up at the Erie Yacht Club, where he developed what would become a lifelong passion for sailing and racing.  Bill shared, “my experiences as a youth racing big boats and small boats were formative and played a major role in my personal development.  The challenges of racing and teamwork required helped to develop lifelong skills that have served me well personally and professionally.  I was lucky to have that opportunity and I support the Erie Yacht Club Foundation to help other people have that same opportunity.”

Bill’s involvement with the EYC Foundation began when current Foundation Board Chair, Bill Lillis, Sr., asked Bill Lasher about spearheading a collegiate sailing team at Penn State Behrend.  The EYC Foundation was investing time and dollars into building intercollegiate sailing in Erie and a Behrend team would be the next step to complement the team that had started at Gannon University.  Bill Lasher took on the challenge once he identified a student interested in a sailing team at Behrend and they built a team from there with Bill as the first faculty advisor. 

In subsequent years, Bill helped to found the Battle of Lake Erie Intercollegiate regatta co-hosted by Behrend and Gannon and held at the Erie Yacht Club each September, drawing college teams from across the Northeastern United States.  While he has passed the torch as Behrend Sailing Club advisor to another EYC member, Sharon Dale, he continues to be involved in the Battle of Lake Erie as PRO.

Eventually, Bill was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of the Erie Yacht Club Foundation where he found the three-part mission to be a great fit for his personal values.  The Foundation exists to advance maritime education, pro mote youth and intercollegiate sailing competition, and to expand opportunities in boating.  Bill reflects that investing his time and donations in an organization which is focused on expanding opportunities in boating is particularly meaningful to him based on his early experiences at EYC.  “I had the opportunity to be exposed to boating from an early age and have formed lifelong friendships and skills based on lessons learned on the water.  My involvement with and donations to the Foundation is my way of paying that forward.  Projects that the Foundation supports through grants provide sailing scholarships to underserved youth, has helped to purchase sailboats for youth camps, have provided first-time boating experiences to kids and adults, and helped build a collegiate sailing scene in Erie.” 

Bill has completed his term on the Foundation Board of Directors but continues his support through volunteering for the Battle of Lake Erie, sponsorship of the Foundation’s annual Boathouse Party, and yearly donations.  Donations to the Erie Yacht Club Foundation supported grants to 10 organizations in 2023 totaling $43,725.  Hundreds of youth and adults were positively impacted thanks to those grant-supported projects, all in relation to the three focus areas of the EYC Foundation mission.

During this season of reflection and giving, consider a gift to the Erie Yacht Club Foundation to support their mission and 2024 grant-making capability.  Donations can be made at www.erieyachtclubfoundation.org.

How did you get involved with the Erie Yacht Club Foundation?

My first involvement was when I was a faculty at Behrend and Bill Lillis approached me about starting a racing team.  Gannon had already started one and the Foundation wanted to build Intercollegiate sailing in Erie.  At first I couldn’t find any students that were interested but after a few years one student came to me and wanted to start a sailing club. I became their faculty advisor and we built the program from there.  I helped out as PRO for the now annual Battle of Lake Erie regatta and thought it was great.

I was later approached about becoming a trustee, and having seen the impact the Foundation had on college students who had never had the opportunity to sail I thought it was worth getting involved.  I of course knew about the Boathouse but other than that and the Intercollegiate sailing program I didn’t really know what the Foundation was trying to accomplish.  I found that there’s a lot more to it than I had thought. 

What about their mission speaks to you that you want to invest your time and dollars?

The mission has three parts - advancing maritime education, promoting youth and intercollegiate sailing competition, and expanding opportunities in boating.  I think all three parts are important and worthwhile, but it is the last part that means the most to me.  I was fortunate enough to grow up at the EYC and my experiences there as a youth – especially racing both big boats and small boats – were formative and played a major role in my personal development.  I think the challenges of racing, especially the knowledge and teamwork required, are great to develop all sorts of skills.  I developed a lot of really solid friendships that continue to this day. The key thing is that it all happened because I had an opportunity, and I believe that we need to help people who don’t have that opportunity to get it.

What was a highlight as a board member of the Foundation?

We spent a lot of time talking about what kinds of projects we should fund and I think at first we struggled with that.  Part of the reason is that the Foundation, under Jim McBrier’s vision and leadership, began with a goal of building the boathouse.  Once that was complete there were a lot of questions about what to do next.  At one point we even developed an idea of building a community rowing center on the former Richards property adjacent to the club but were not able to put together the funding before the property was bought.  We eventually developed our current mission statement which became a guiding principle for the type of projects we would fund, and I played a major role in developing that.

Any particular projects the Foundation has helped fund that were personally meaningful to you?

I think the scholarships for high school students to attend the Reyburn Sailing School are the most meaningful to me.  These are underserved kids who might never have the opportunity to go sailing – the opportunity I had.  The comments of some of the students in the video we created says it all.  I think it’s hard to watch that without feeling good about what we’ve done.

I would encourage anyone who hasn’t gone to the Boathouse party to check it out.  In addition to supporting a great cause, it’s a really nice event.  I didn’t go until I became a trustee – then I found out what I had been missing!