Charity golf tournament aims to help those in need
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
The Strathmore Chinook Credit Union has been a major supporter of the Foothills Advocacy in Motion, AIM, Society since they came to town. This year Bill Crawford, branch manager for Chinook Credit Union and Craig McKenzie, program manager with the AIM Society, have paired up to bring a new fundraising event to town.
“The AIM Society has had sort of an all branch (golf) tournament…I invited Bill Crawford last year to attend as one of our guests,” said McKenzie.
“He liked it so much that following last years tournament he called me up and said, ‘Craig here’s a proposal for you, I’d like to do the same thing for (the) Strathmore branch, and we will be the major sponsor for it.”
The first annual Chinook Credit Union Charity Golf Tournament in support of the AIM Society will be taking place on July 8.
“A hundred bucks gets you green fees, a cart, 18 holes of golf, a steak dinner and maybe some prizes,” said Crawford.
“We’re looking for prizes. The community has really stepped up well with donations, so we’ve collected a fair bit of money which is really nice but we don’t want to spend a lot of that, or any of that really on prizes.”
He said they are looking for things like golf shirts, hats, balls and things like that to give away. Crawford said the whole community is behind the program in High River because they have such a high profile, something that’s missing here in Strathmore. He is hoping to help raise the profile in Strathmore for the society.
There are 50 confirmed players but Crawford said he would like to see 80 to 100 players. While it is a fundraiser there won’t be people trying to collect money at every hole.
“You enter, we’re going to sell you mulligan’s at the beginning and then we’re not going to beat you up again. We’ll have a silent auction at the end,” said Crawford.
All of the funds raised at the tournament will be going directly to the Strathmore AIM Society.
“We utilize the funds we raise to help support the adults that we work with to help find new opportunities and grow the program going forward,” said McKenzie.
Crawford said he would like to see $10,000 raised but knows that is going to be hard to get.
“I’m thinking somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 would be more realistic and then in the future years somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000,” said Crawford.
Clients of the AIM Society will be at the tournament helping out in anyway they can. The AIM Society is a support system for people with disabilities and is there to help each person achieve success no matter what it means to them.