Last week our Esther Giambalvo of Fonville Morisey Preston told you all about the golf tournament she and her husband, Lou founded to help raise awareness for the Triangle Down Syndrome Network and funding for HopeSpring Village. This a recap from this very successful event written by her husband, Lou.
Our 7th Annual TDSN Charity Golf Tournament was a huge success!
We raised over $53,000, the most since the inception of the golf tournament. We also had a full field with 144 golfers and over 70 volunteers adding to the success of this year’s tournament.
The weather was absolutely perfect without a cloud in the sky. We gave away some GREAT prizes and trophies and had a successful silent auction. The top item that went for $5000 in the silent auction was a trip for two to participate in the 2012 Lexus Champions for Charity event in Pebble Beach.
We had 41 hole sponsors, again the most since the inception of the tournament. Our top tournament sponsors were Maggiano’s, Credit Suisse, Modern Woodmen, IBM, and Johnson Lexus. We had the pleasure to have 3 great local restaurants out on the golf course sponsoring holes and giving out food to the golfers: Ruckus, Firebirds and Hooters.
We also had the pleasure to have Tom Garber, a 5 time World Long Drive Championship finalist out on the course giving teams the opportunity to use his drive. We recorded drives for Tom of over 400 yards that were used by the golfers.
This year we also had 4 car dealerships (again another first) sponsoring hole-in-one contests on each of the Par 3′s: Pittsboro Ford, Crossroads Infinity, Capital Ford and Johnson Lexus of Durham.
That’s just the logistics behind such a massive event. We appreciate all of our sponsors, volunteers, and participants as we move closer to achieving our goal of a building the HopeSpring Village community.
Gianna and Esther Giambalvo with FM Preston VP & Sales Manager and tournament volunteer, Diane Donnelly
Diane Donnelly, our Fonville Morisey Preston Broker-in-Charge was there bright and early ready to volunteer and she had this to say about her experience -
It was a beautiful day for golf and raising money for such a great cause. The highlight was Gianna Giambalvo’s kick off speech to the golfers before they started to play…she was the reason that her parents, Lou & Esther, have put forth so much effort to making HopeSpring a reality. So many people shared stories during the day of their own children’s special needs and how they wanted to be involved – it was inspiring!
We thank you, Diane, for being a part of this amazing day.
My wife, Esther, had this to add -
We look forward to this event every year. We had a fantastic turnout this year and raised the most money ever. The feedback we’ve gotten has been so positive and we hope to be closer to a ribbon cutting very soon.
Of course, my daughter, Gianna sums it up best -
If you were at the tournament, we’d love to know if you were just as inspired by it as Diane was. Please leave a comment below.
Again, we can’t thank everyone enough for their generosity in giving of their time, talents, and resources to this event. Fun was definitely had by all! We hope you join us again next year for our 8th Annual tournament. In the meantime, feel free to check out this slideshow of more images from this year’s event.
