Golf Tournament Wrap-Up
Many thanks to all the golfers, donors, volunteers, and CHAMP staff who helped make the Bill Ross Memorial Golf Tournament such a success! Our 10th annual golf tournament, held May 24th at beautiful Crystal Springs Quarry Golf Club in Maryland Heights, MO, brought in much-needed funding for our programs.
Our tournament namesake:
As a C.H.A.M.P.ion Therapy Dog Handler, Bill Ross enjoyed visiting children and adults - especially veterans at the Missouri Veterans Home - with his therapy dogs Mimosa and Quincy. He gave very generously of his time, doing a thousand odd jobs to keep our small office in tip-top shape. And he was exceptionally generous with funding our programs, too, through the "William S. and Billie K. Ross Charitable Foundation." Over the years, Bill's support allowed us to impact the lives of thousands of people through our therapy dog, service dog, and education programs. Bill was a regular at our golf tournaments, trivia nights, and other events. We are grateful to have had Bill as a CHAMP supporter, and honored to rename our tournament in his memory.
Tournament Day:
The CHAMP luck held once again, and we had nice, clear weather for golf. I should say nice, clear, and HOT weather, as we found out later that the high of 92 degrees was the first 90+ day of the year, and tied a previous record set in 1950! The heat index was close to 100 as well, which only served to make the day seem hotter (especially since it followed several cooler-than-normal days.)
We started the day right, with an excellent BBQ Buffet before our shotgun start at noon. Crystal Springs Quarry Golf Course is challenging and picturesque, featuring gorgeous scenery as the course weaves in and out of natural wetlands with abundant wildlife. Fun and games along the way included: Longest Drive, Closest to the Pin, Putting Contest, Skins, and, of course, our own very special CHAMP Fun Hole! (What's that, you ask?? Be sure to check out the photos of our Crazy Cowboys!)
We met back at the ranch ("clubhouse" for you city-folk) for CSQ's famous Fried Chicken Buffet, then on to prizes for our winning teams and individuals, a Silent Auction, and a Cactus Ring-Toss Game. And one spectacular SURPRISE live auction! Lizzy Uthoff, an outstanding local golfer playing in our tournament for the first time, very kindly offered to play a round of golf with the winning bidders, raising $500 on the spot for CHAMP. Thank you Lizzie!
Speaking of the winning teams.... we were simply speechless this year when ALL of our cash-winning foursomes and several of the individual prize winners VERY kindly chose to donate their winnings back to CHAMP!!! WOW! Totally unexpected, to say the least. We were very touched by their incredible generosity.
THANK YOU!
CHAMP would like to thank The Boeing Company for sending three teams this year! They've been long-time supporters of our mission, through the Boeing Employees Charitable Fund as well as sending teams to play in our tournament. And we'd like to thank Dan Prosser, of Prosser Financial Group for bringing FOUR teams to play! We really enjoyed meeting the new golfers, and hope they enjoyed the outing.
Thank you to Mike Briner, Crystal Springs Quarry Pro Shop Manager and Tournament Coordinator, and all the other friendly folks at CSQ for making our golfers and volunteers feel so welcome!
Thanks also to Zach with Public Access Service Dog Bimmer for stopping by to visit with our golfers. There's just nothing quite like seeing a great partnership in action. And thank you to our CHAMP tournament volunteers Nola Ewers, Janet Cole, Theresa Dattilo, Cam Murphy, Lon Lowrey, Cher Lowrey, Carolyn Schwaab, Darla Golden, Paula Duer, Victoria Siegel, Cheryl Mines, Lorna Kelly, Debra Bellm, and our event photographers, Russell and Sheree Neilsen of Ocean Spirit Photography. And a HUGE THANK YOU to our new friends from Citi - Shauna Molloy, Sarah, Donna, Scott, Steve, and Kelli!! They came early to help with set-up and registration, and were absolutely priceless.
