Hall of Fame basketball coach, Lute Olson, was a celebrity player for the Fore For Kids Charity Golf Tournament for many years.
Fore For Kids Annual Charity Golf Tournament to Pick Up Where It Left Off
Joe Guyton
The annual Fore For Kids Charity Golf Tournament will take place at the Oro Valley Country Club on Monday, Nov. 22, starting with Registration at 11 a.m. and a shotgun at 1 p.m. This is the signature fundraiser of the Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke. All proceeds are used to support area programs and scholarships for children and youth. Past recipients of the fundraiser have included such programs as books and dictionaries for students in the immediate area, a robotics program in the schools, support for 1st Tee in Tucson, computers for Sycamore Canyon, miniature horse therapy for special needs children, college and vocational scholarships for students in our area, plus many more programs.
In January 2020, members of The Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke were hard at work preparing for the annual Fore For Kids Annual Charity Golf Event to be held in April of that year. This critical fundraiser had been held every year since 1998. Yes, critical, because for 21 years this important Rotary event raised more $0.5 million for local community charities serving youth. However, COVID-19 became so severe that the tournament was postponed four times. We were able to schedule again, thanks in great part to the ongoing support of tournament sponsors. We are also fortunate that our tournament director, Gordon Wainwright, continued to push forward following one disappointing postponement after another.
Support from community businesses and individuals have been outstanding. Tournaments such as Fore For Kids cannot be successful without sponsor support. We have also been blessed with celebrity support. For several years, Hall of Fame University of Arizona basketball coach, Lute Olson, was the tournament’s celebrity player. Lute’s support was unending. Lute, who passed away in August 2020, will be greatly missed. The Fore for Kids Annual Charity Golf Tournament has become an important event in the community and is also fun for all—Rotarians, golfers, and guests.
The tournament will be a four-person best ball scramble. Registration includes golf, driving range, prizes, an on-course lunch, and an after-play barbecue buffet. There will be special hole-in-one awards on all par 3s.
We have just a few spots that have become available after so many changes in dates. Oro Valley Country Club is a private club, and it’s difficult to find an opportunity to play there. The registration fee is $150 for a single golfer. Register as a foursome ($560) and receive a discount of $40 per foursome. Checks should be made out to the SaddleBrooke Rotary Club Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization.
Contact Gordon Wainwright for more information at 520-908-6110 or [email protected].
The Rotary Club currently meets at the Ranch House at SaddleBrooke Ranch.
If you would like information on how Rotary may fit into your life and schedule, contact Wendy Guyton at 520-404-5712 or [email protected].
Tucson Marathon Aid Station
SaddleBrooke Sunrise Rotary Cause Club
Maggie de Block
SaddleBrooke Sunrise Rotary Club has adopted one of the new Rotary Club formats. What does this mean? Our club has adopted a simpler structure around members’ recommended service projects. Once approved, the club centers projects and activities around those service projects.
For SaddleBrooke Sunrise Rotary members, the new format is a winner. Most of us in our retirement years have attended board and customer meetings (been there, done that), and now we are ready to make an impact for folks who are less fortunate in our community as well as the surrounding communities in the Copper Corridor.
Our club focuses on children and seniors—the most vulnerable in our area. To improve literacy, we have built and maintain three Little Free Libraries in Mammoth, San Manuel, and Hayden. A collaborative effort with the Miami/Globe Rotary Club is planned to build and maintain a Little Free Library in the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. We have also donated and written grants for books for the San Manuel Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade teachers’ libraries.
To combat hunger, our club members have volunteered three times a month for the past five years in Mammoth at the Tri-Community Food Bank. We unload and stock the freezers and shelves of the United Food Bank truck’s monthly deliveries and also assist with the loading and unloading of the food purchased at Bashas’. If you are looking to stay fit, I can guarantee you will build your upper body strength; but watch for “flying chickens” when stocking the freezers!
The Moonlight Madness sale at the Golden Goose Thrift Shop is a monthly activity. You can find us bagging and manning the different store areas.
Our new service project is 51 Homes Vets—a collaborative effort dedicated to ending homelessness for Tucson veterans. Our activities include helping organize the warehouse for donated items and doing repairs on donated small furniture. We submitted a Rotary District grant to purchase 11 new mattresses and bed frames to help furnish their apartments.
Before COVID, we cooked and served at the annual Christmas breakfast for the Golder Ranch Fire District and manned a help station for the Tucson Marathon. We hope these activities will resume later this year.
Our major fundraiser is the annual I Don’t Want It You Can Have It Sale. This year’s income is designated for our 51 Homes Vets Project. We are not all work and no play. Socializing and camaraderie are an important part of our club.
Meetings are held the first and third Thursdays at 8 a.m. in the Cactus Room at the SB MountainView Clubhouse. These are hybrid meetings, in-person and Zoom for our members who are traveling or are part-time SaddleBrooke and Ranch residents.
You can make a difference in your own way. If interested in this relaxed Rotary Club format, please contact Maggie de Block, membership chair, at 520 818-7835 or [email protected], or Roger Lindeken, our club president, at 775-829-0500 or [email protected].