HOPE's 7th Annual Tournament Raises Funds for College Housing
HOPE's 7th annual tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club on November 3rd saw another record breaking year. Not only did our participants help us to raise over $130,000, but they also had a great time doing it. As Terri Nishimura, one of our golfers from Pediatric Therapy Network, said: "This is the best tournament ever!" Emcee Rob Fukuzaki, ABC Channel 7's Sports Anchor, returned for his fourth year and opened the event, played in the tournament, and also kept things festive and entertaining during the evening program.
Our auction boasted an amazing assortment of items for bid including a VIP L.A. Kings package, great trips, country-club foursomes, top of the line golf items, jewelry, restaurants and cultural events, and other specialty packages from massage to personal trainers. In total over $16,000 was raised through the live and silent auctions. The opportunity drawings for both Pebble Beach and Hawaii raised almost $7,000. Proceeds from this year's tournament will help HOPE to purchase an apartment building for the College to Career (C2C) program.
Our guest speaker this year was Sam: a C2C student who will graduate in December with a degree in communications. Dana Delman, from California Mentor--this year's Title sponsor--shared information about the program and introduced Sam. Sam shared his experiences and told the audience about the impact that the program has made for him by giving him the support and direction he needed to find success.
"I thought I would be living with my parents until I was 40! It was exciting to have an affordable and furnished home to call my own. The rigorous hours of learning how to become independent, both at home and at school, has paid off. I've learned to cook: particularly steak, meatloaf, and shepherd's pie. I've learned to maintain a clean living space."
Since Sam's dream job is to become a sport-caster; you can imagine how thrilled he was when Rob Fukuzaki offered Sam and his family a tour of the ABC 7 studios and a visit to a live taping of the news cast!
Special recognition awards were presented to Harbor Regional Center's Executive Director Pat Del Monico for her years of support and for HRC's dedication to HOPE's mission, and also to Del Harbor Foundation board member Pam Muir for DHF's financial support of over $150,000 over the past several years for renovations and to sustain HOPE's operations.
HOPE's fund raising goal is $200,000 to provide funding for the purchase of more housing for the C2C students. Thanks to the tournament we are at 65% of the goal!!!
