As the weather finally turns to spring-like conditions in Saskatchewan golf moves closer to the forefront of people’s minds. Part of that is looking forward to the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
The Rotary Club of Saskatoon has added some fun to the annual major with a fundraising pool that’s been in operation for over a decade in partnership with Golf Saskatchewan. Although not the organization’s largest fundraiser the pool does bring in about $5,000 of profit per year. Past president of the Saskatoon Rotary Club, Dave Sundby said the group has used the funds to give back to several initiatives.
“We give $1,500 to SaskPolytech every year and they use it for bursaries for students,” Sundby told Golf Saskatchewan. “The other one we spend a lot of money on is a big project we call the ‘Restorative Action Program’ or ‘RAP’ which is in nine high schools in Saskatoon. We’ve put a restorative action worker in each one of those schools. The police service likes it because we keep people out of the system. We teach them how to resolve conflicts without getting into trouble with the law.”
Sundby said they have assistance from the school boards, provincial and municipal governments and other partners to fund the RAP program. The Rotary Club likes to be involved in other school actions as well he said.
“We bought a stove for Westmount Community School a couple years ago so they can feed children that come to school hungry. They were using a household type stove that was falling apart. We bought them a nice commercial stove and the lady who does that there says it’s so much easier. We do other things like that at schools around the city,” Sundby said.
The Saskatchewan Golf Association, at the time of the pool’s inception was called upon to help orchestrate the format and decide how the prize winners would be decided. For the Association’s efforts 20 per cent of the proceeds were distributed back into their organization. The money was allocated for junior golf programs and is this the mandate today. Executive Director Brian Lee said the partnership is fantastic and Golf Saskatchewan appreciates golf being used in fundraising efforts.
“Our association has been involved for about a decade and we are happy to partner with groups in any way to promote golf and raise money for beneficial programs. The Rotary Club of Saskatoon does great work in the city of Saskatoon and across the globe and we’re pleased to have a small involvement of their charitable work,” Lee said.
Entry forms are available at www.saskatoonrotary.org or download it from our website. Participants choose a team of 10 golfers from the list to win the most money during the April tournament. Entry forms can be downloaded then mailed with a cheque, faxed with credit card information through the Saskatchewan Lotteries secure fax machine, or via our form and submit electronically. Each entry is $25. The deadline to register your team is April 10. The grand prize is $5,000. Second place will receive $1,000, third place is worth $500, and the next five leaders will win $100.
Patrick Reed is the defending Masters champion.