Don't be alarmed if a band student comes knocking on your door on Saturday, Nov. 21. They are just looking for your support.

The Boonville High School Band of Gold card program is starting up and the band is looking for as much help from the community as it can get. The cards will be sold until Dec. 4.

"We are doing a Band of Gold card blitz that Saturday morning," said Fran Vile, director of bands.

The gold card, which costs only $10, can be used for discounts at local restaurants and other businesses.

"This is one of our most successful fundraisers," said Vile. "We've already had people in the community asking for them."

Vile said these fundraisers are important to the band program because each year, it costs the program $26,000 to compete in the marching season.

The Band of Gold recently competed in semi-state competition and Vile said, "success is not cheap."

"That's another week of staff and a bus trip to Indianapolis," he said. "It's just not a cheap activity."

Parents and students do pay dues to help offset costs, but Vile said the fees don't even come close to the overall cost to run the program. Running the concession stands at games helps to keep those dues down.

"I think it's really important to make band affordable to every kid," he said.

The program spends around $3,000 on the music alone. Toss in the drill and choreography, and the season already has a more than $8,000 price tag.

"To be honest, there's a cheaper way of doing marching band, but I'm not for sure we'd be as successful at it," Vile said.

All the music and marching is customized to showcase the band's strengths and additional staff helps the band reach its full potential.

"For the extra staff members, the bill this year was over $10,000," said Vile. "If we're going to put money some place, then we need to put it where it's going to help the kids the most. That's bringing people in to teach lessons and get them to perform better."

Uniform cleaning costs approximately $1,400 a year, while transportation is roughly $450 each weekend.

"There's an expense involved in keeping the quality of the program where it is," said Vile. "We have to go out and raise money."