Under sunny skies, teams of lady golfers — some in pink, a colour symbolizing breast cancer — raised nearly $2,500 for Vanderhoof’s oncology unit on July 27.
With 57 participants, the eighth annual Golf for the Cure at the Omineca Golf Course was a success this year, said Sally Makin, one of the event’s organizers.
“[Amount raised] was not as much as last year, but we’re still very pleased,” she said.
Donated by local businesses and residents, silent auction items and door prizes include gift baskets of wine, crafts, poetry, and jams, as well as original artwork by local artist Marylynn Lawrence and a quilt from the Nechako Quilters Guild.
Participants’ knowledge of cancer was also tested by trivia questions such as whether alcohol consumption increases the risk of certain types of cancer.
The disease hit close to home for golfer Veronica Priest, seven years ago, when her brother’s wife passed away from breast cancer. The youngest of their seven kids was seven years old, she said.
For Sarah Ebert, it’s an opportunity to play golf once a year, as she golfed for the first time at last year’s event, she said. She took part with one of two teams consisting of Vanderhoof’s health care staff.
“It was fun,” Ebert said. “Good team bonding.”
The annual event involves teams of three to five playing a four-ball scramble during the last hours of daylight, with each team member teeing off at once and then all shoot from where the best ball landed.