VERO BEACH — The Ladies Nine Hole Golf Association of Grand Harbor has dedicated its annual Red Hat Rally tournament to The Heart Center at Indian River Medical Center for the past six years.
“The event has grown each year. Thanks to the generosity of our members and the local vendors who donated raffle items, last month we raised almost $3,000 for The Heart Center”, said Anne Gray, president of the 139 member organization
The fundraising golf tournament and luncheon is held annually around Valentine’s Day.
Carol Huber and Hope Cortissoz co-chaired the 2012 event. The golfers enthusiastically purchased mulligans prior to play on February 16, and also bought tickets for a 50-50 drawing and for the numerous raffles that were held at the luncheon.
“We raised the most money through the sale of raffle tickets,” said Mrs. Huber, who began soliciting the prizes for the raffle as early as six months prior to the event. “The local vendors were incredibly generous with their donations of items and gift certificates. We received over 50 raffle prizes this year”.
A special item in the raffle was a hand-crafted sweater, which member Doris Hall made and donated. She knitted the festive red sweater with Grand Harbor’s signature scallop shell design on its front, as she has generously each year.
Sally Pearse won the 50-50 drawing and promptly donated her winnings to the Heart Center.
“We chose the Heart Center as the beneficiary of our event because we wanted the funds to stay local, and we couldn’t think of a better recipient. We know how important the Heart Center is to our community”, explained Mrs. Gray.
Although her three-year term as association president is ending, she is confident the new leadership will continue its relationship with The Heart Center.
Since 2007, the Ladies Nine Hole Golf Association of Grand Harbor has raised over $8,600.
“We think it’s pretty amazing what such a small group can accomplish”, she said.