A decade of fundraising for children in need

This summer’s 10th annual Help Kids Grow Up Charity Golf Tournament, benefitting Variety of Ottawa and the Canadian Foundation for Children with AIDS (CFCA) was held on Tuesday, July 9 at the prestigious ClubLink Eagle Creek Golf Club in scenic Dunrobin, Ontario.

Once again, the tournament presented by Diamond Level Sponsor, GAL Power, was a sold-out event supported by over 63 corporate sponsors and the newly established, GAL Family Foundation – contributing at a Diamond Sponsorship Level.

This year’s HKGU golf tournament and pre-tournament fundraising activities have generated nearly $84,766 in net proceeds raised to date, with another event still to come in the late summer. GAL Power has been instrumental in achieving a 10-year commitment to raise over $680,000 for children in need.

The top-notch Eagle Creek staff and tournament volunteers treated participants to HKGU’s unique brand of hospitality, while the dedicated tournament sponsors provided everyone with fuel for the day. Breakfast was generously sponsored by Vibra-Sil, lunch by Jim Peplinski Leasing – gold level tournament sponsors, while platinum hospitality sponsors, Eaton & WESCO, hosted a promotional on-course “beer tent” featuring the Labatt promotion team handing out Stella Artois tall cans.

This year’s HKGU tournament featured a gala reception event that celebrated 10 years of fundraising success while providing ample opportunity to network. It featured live auctions, raffles and 50/50 cash draws, an awards ceremony, food stations, wine, spirits and beer tasting stations provided by platinum sponsors CIBC and Eaton & WESCO, accompanied with complimentary wine by provided gold level sponsor Atlas Copco.

Sunny skies prevailed as over 144 participating golfers were greeted with warm smiles and received complimentary registration gifts generously provided by sponsors. Throughout the day, they displayed their skills through nine on-course skill events including chipping/putting contests, longest drive, straightest drive, closest-to-the-pin, and four “hole-in-one” contests with large cash prizes and VIP sports fan experiences.

In addition to the on-course skill events, each year a top team that achieves the lowest score for the day, using a scramble format, is crowned. This year’s tournament saw the setting of a new tournament record for the top team award achieved by the Sens Alumni foursome with a score of 53. That’s 19 under par! Close on their heels for the coveted award were team GAL Power 5A (score: 57) and team Gervais Towing 4A (score: 61).

During the tournament gala reception, long-term major tournament sponsors were recognized for their years of commitment to the HKGU tournament.

Variety of Ottawa proudly presented a cheque to their selected family for this year for $5,000, while the GAL Family Foundation presented a cheque to Variety of Ottawa for $20,000.

Sponsor commitment

This tournament is made possible by the tremendous support of GAL Power. They have made a 10-year commitment to raise more than $680,000 through this event. GAL Power, one of Canada’s leading providers of power and temperature control rental solutions has earned leadership status by consistently supplying high-performance generators over the past 30 years. Visit www.galpower.com.

How proceeds will be used

With the proceeds from the tournaments, Variety of Ottawa has directed proceeds to support the Leukemia Society of Ottawa and most recently to establish a commitment with CHEO to fund $100,000, over a four-year period, towards the cost for a new heart and lung bypass machine.

Variety of Ottawa has also expanded its partnership with the Children’s Wish Foundation and Darcy’s Angels, established a fund through the JMM Golf Tournament – in honor of Jim Morrison (Ottawa restaurant supporter), and provided funding for a local child battling cancer. CFCA continues to use its share of the net proceeds to significantly expand sustainable food programs (livestock and greenhouse) within the sub-Saharan region of Africa, which has been decimated by the impact of the AIDS virus. Combined with the organization’s American counterpart AFCA, these programs are now supporting over 30,000 families across four countries.

Although this is the final year for the HKGU Charity Golf Tournament, the tradition of giving back will continue through the HKGU fundraising events including the first annual JMM Golf Tournament being held Aug. 26, 2019 at GreyHawk Golf Club. We hope you will join us so we can continue to expand our programs for children in need in Ottawa and in Africa!

Visit the tournament website for more info about this year’s event at http://hkgu.varietyofottawa.com. Contact Bill Garbarino, tournament director at garbarw@algonquincollege.com for available sponsorship and donation opportunities.