After a failed attempt to participate in the management of the Lynnfield Youth Football and Cheer program (LYFC), one resident took action.
Lauren Maney George spearheaded a campaign to form a new youth football league dubbed the Lynnfield Pioneer Youth Football and Cheer League (LPYFC).
George and three other parents were elected to the LYFC board last summer. A few days later, the original LYFC board nullified the elections, citing failure to give proper notice. A new annual meeting was convened, but most parents were barred from attending.
“The previous organization historically failed to hold annual meetings for its members and then in August of 2017, it had two botched attempts to hold a meeting and elect new directors,” said George.
After the initial meeting, George said she contacted the former treasurer asking for records, but her calls went unanswered.
“All we wanted to do was participate, but our efforts were stonewalled at every turn,” she said. “After the second meeting, when we were not allowed in, we knew that was never going to happen, so the only answer was to form our own organization.”
Maney and several other parents hit the ground running. They held weekly meetings to develop a long-term strategy. The new organization was incorporated in 2017, and accepted into the Cape Ann Youth Football League. This year, LPYFC opened for business, and the registrations came pouring in to the point where the number of children in both programs was at or near the previous year’s numbers.
From drafting budgets and corporate by-laws to incorporating as a non-profit organization to obtaining federal tax-exempt status, George did it all.
Employed as a forensic accountant, George will tell you that it was all in a day’s work.
“Isn’t that what you are supposed to do when you know something is wrong and you know you can help make it right?” George said. “My siblings and I grew up in a family in which giving back to the community was expected. In this case … once I figured out that no matter what we did, we couldn’t win and have a say, so we decided to act.”
George, a 1992 Lynnfield High graduate, has called Lynnfield home for nearly her entire life, where the Maney name is well-known. Lauren’s father is Joe Maney Sr., a 2017 Person of the Year nominee. Maney coached youth sports, served as selectman, town manager, L.I.F.E. president and town moderator.
In honor of his service, the Board of Selectmen named its Town Hall meeting room after him.
Let’s just say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
George is one of the most accomplished athletes to ever play at Lynnfield High. A three-sport Cape Ann League Player of the Year, soccer, basketball, softball, George graduated as basketball’s all-time leading scorer with 1,371 career points. She was also the first female 1992 Moynihan Student-Athlete of the Year.
George excelled in basketball at Holy Cross, where her name shows up throughout the record books. A three-time All-Patriot League honoree, she was the first female basketball player to be named 1966 Crusader of the Year. A 2002 Holy Cross Hall of Fame inductee, George graduated third all-time in scoring with 1,721 points.
For George, her activism was motivated by one thing: children.
“It was never about anything except the kids,” she said. “We as parents wanted to be included, we wanted transparency, we wanted to make it right and safe for the kids. We wanted to make football a community experience where people could come together and help out for the right reasons.”
George said she realized the only way to do that was to start a new program.
“I’m just proud of the way we came together and created something that places a priority on community,” she added.
A practicing attorney and CPA, George works for the Boston Strike Force unit of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. She works high profile criminal cases to maximize the federal government’s return on seized assets.
George and her husband, Steve, are the parents of four: daughter Kaila, 12, and sons Drew, 10, Justin, 8, and Colin, 5.
She volunteers at Saint Maria Goretti Church in the Children’s Liturgy of the Word program, serves as a youth basketball coach for her daughter’s in-town and travel team basketball teams, is treasurer of the LYPFC organization and is a member of the Lynnfield Strategic Planning Committee.
