SFCSC's annual golf tourney at Rivendell

Julie Druker | Jul 22, 2015

Ninety-five golfers participated in this year’s Southern Frontenac Community Services’ annual Family & Friends Golf Tournament, where 24 teams took to the greens to enjoy 18 holes at Rivendell Golf Club in Verona. The event, now in its seventh year (the fourth consecutive at Rivendell), is the organization’s single biggest fundraiser of the year. This year’s tournament was organized by long-time SFCS driver volunteers, Dave Linton and Bill Hartwick, along with Jennifer Linton, a past board member and founder/current coordinator of the SFCS food bank. Although the weather on July 17 was a bit wet, that did not stop the participants from enjoying a fun and relaxing day on the greens, which concluded with a delicious ham 'n all the fixings supper, and prize presentations. No less than 26 local businesses sponsored the event, along with seven corporate sponsors, including RBC Sydenham and the Investors Group, both of whom offered hole-in-one prizes of $15,000 and $5,000 respectively, though neither was won at Friday's event.

Dave Linton said that the tournament is truly a “team effort” and that “the SFCS staff and volunteers really stepped up to the plate and helped to get the word out there”. Linton said he was pleased with the turn out and with the generous support received from sponsors and participants.

All tournament proceeds go toward supporting programs and services for seniors in South Frontenac and rural Kingston and Linton believes this is a big reason for the tournament being so successful. Services provided benefit not only seniors, but also their families and care givers. The Adult Day Program is a huge example of such a service. In fact, the Adult Day Seniors contributed to the golf tournament by placing items in gift bags - a meaningful task that saved the organizers hours of work. Each golfer received one of the gift bags.

As a social event, the annual tournament provides a venue where family and friends can take time out to share laughs and stories, and simply enjoy each other's company, and the day. Linton said that organizers have always gauged the degree of enjoyment by participants according to the degree of noise generated, and at the end of the tournament, the noise generated in the banquet room was deafening... truly a bonus reward for the organizers.