Windy Chips In Was A Big Boost For Local Charity, Kids Wanting To Play Sports
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2021-09-06
By GORD MONTGOMERY, Inside Golf
EDMONTON, Alberta — Sometimes golf tournaments aren’t necessarily about who wins, who gets the KP or Longest Drive prizes, or who shoots their career low round. Rather, they’re about giving back.
That was exactly the case at the Windermere G&CC in Edmonton recently, when members teamed up to take part in a one-day event that could well have far- and long-reaching results. You see, this event was about helping others, and in particular, kids.
When all was said and done just over 100 members of The Windy, as it’s known locally, teamed up to provide almost $30,000 in cash for a local charitable group, KidSport Edmonton, whose mandate is to serve underprivileged families by providing them with funds to meet the cost of sport registration.
The thing is, it just took a while longer than initially planned to get to the end result, said the club’s CCM PGA General Manager, Brice McDermott.
“The concept kind of started probably in the fall of 2019 at the end of my first year here, looking at there being a member-member event as there was a gap in our schedule,” he explained in a phone interview. “It was pretty clear to me that the team wanted to do something for a local charity and incorporate the members. Often times private clubs are looked at negatively by peo-ple outside when in fact there are real generous people (here) who do some real amazing things.”
As it turned out, the tourney tee times scheduled originally for May of 2020 were driven OB by the then on-going pandemic restrictions. While the event didn’t take place at that time, some club members gathered together, McDermott pointed out, to raise $32,000 for the Edmonton Food Bank. “The tournament was put on hold until May of this year,” but the giving never really stopped as later on toys were collected for kids at Christmas and another substantial donation was forwarded to the food bank. “Really the community here at Windermere was rallying around giving back.”
As it turned out, the Windy Chips In fundraiser was postponed a second time in order to not breach provincial COVID-19 restrictions in early 2021. Finally though, the tournament did take place in late August.
“We had 108 people out that day,” which resulted in a collection of $27,150.06. “That was just through our members’ entries into the event, some silent auction items. We really wanted to do this on our own. We didn’t get any outside sponsorships or even any sponsorships from mem-bers. There were no prizes that day. The winners got a trophy and that was basically it. Every-thing that was generated that day would go back to the charity,” explained McDermott of the giv-ing-but-not-receiving (other than a job well done) feeling.
When all was said and done, the team that finished on top, Kyle Dawe and Nathan Hutzul, wrapped their hands around an oversized cheque and a trophy along with the knowledge that next year’s recipient of funds raised in a similar fashion will be based upon the decision they make. “it might not be KidSport again but we kind of have a list of six or seven local charities,” from which that choice will be made, McDermott noted.
While the sport of golf continues to try and grow itself, it’s not necessary that the funds raised during this event go toward kids interested in that particular sport, said McDermott. While that would be nice, he agreed, the money moves forward with no strings attached to how it is used, because this was about giving back to whoever needs it and for keeping kids active in any num-ber of activities. And that goal was achieved in over 27,000 ways.