Golfers scramble to raise funds for shelter
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Love of animals and of the Bella Vista Animal Shelter's work draws golfers to the Bella Vista Business Association's annual golf tournament.
The 2008 Charity Golf Classic IV is a four-person scramble to be held June 6 at Berksdale Golf Course with a noon shotgun start.
Sure, players are going to golf for fun, perhaps win a few prizes and take home bags full of goodies from local businesses, but they also want to give money to the shelter.
The shelter needs money to pay employees, pay utilities and buy food. The facility is there to take care of lost pets or the animals people dump, and it needs help, Jo and Boots Brehmer said. The couple golfed for the animals last year and have signed up to play again this year.
Taking care of the animals at the shelter is important to them because they know how much they love their shih tzu, GiGi. "I have a little animal. I couldn't imagine dropping it off," Jo Brehmer said.
"(The tournament ) is for a really good cause," Bella Vistan Jim Johns said. He has a really good feeling about the animal shelter, he said, because his neighbor, Cheryl Geifer, volunteers there.
The fundraiser will offer three flights. Each flight will award $ 400 for first place, $ 300 for second place and $ 200 for third place. The Property Owners Association's Golf Division will complete the flights after everyone is done.
Prizes will also be given to those who come closest to the pin or who score a hole-in-one.
The entry fee is $ 50 for a POA member and $ 65 for a nonmember. The payment includes greens fees and a meal, but not a golf cart.
Registrations must be in by May 16. Entry forms are available at all local golf courses and at Village Insurance.
The association is also looking for more hole sponsors. It costs businesses and individuals $ 50 to sponsor a hole and help out the animal shelter.
While the shelter depends on volunteers to walk dogs, socialize cats, pull weeds and answer the phone, it depends on money from the community to pay its bills and its staff, shelter Manager Donna Miles said.
Many of the animals need veterinarian care and need to be spayed or neutered. All of these vet services cost money, she said.
Caring for the pets goes 365 days a year. That's why the shelter has two full-time and four parttime employees.
"There isn't a day off here," Miles said. "Without all these (fundraisers ), we're nothing."
For more information on the business association's golf tournament, call 855-3076.
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