Alberta Sheriffs charity golf tournament

By Janet Kanters Times Editor

The Alberta Sheriffs Branch is hosting a charity golf tournament on Saturday Aug. 17 at the Strathmore Golf Club in support of Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC).
In 2013, the Alberta Sheriffs Branch raised $5,000 for MCSC and over $30,000 the previous five years. The tournament is being revived this year by the branch to help raise awareness and money to support MCSC.
“This is the first time we’ve run it (tournament) for five years; previous to that it was run consecutively for five years,” said Richard Alford with the Alberta Sheriffs Branch.
The mission of the Missing Children Society of Canada is to help return missing children to a safe environment. According to the society, there were more than 42,000 children reported missing in Canada in 2018 and in nearly all of those cases, police reached out for help to bring those children back to safety.
The Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) is a key resource for police, acting as their voice in the community by distributing important information to phones, tablets and computers of the public through its innovative technology, helping with investigations and working to support the families in crisis. MCSC also collaborates with business partners who bring their unique skills and assets into the search for missing children.
The organization that was established in 1986 has evolved from one distributing posters to find a missing child, to one embracing the latest technology to help police in the search for that child. MCSC also reaches out to enlist the help of other professionals in the search and location of missing children in addition to working with traditional media and online/social media to bring public awareness to cases of missing kids.
“This golf tournament is something we want to build on for the future, involving businesses and schools, and educating people on the MCSC,” said Alford. “We’re making it an annual event in Strathmore, so we hope to attract more local businesses, especially Strathmore businesses, to take part and to support the Missing Children Society of Canada.”
This year’s sponsors of the tournament include WestJet, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Fairmont Banff Springs, Southland Transport, Fairmont Palliser Calgary, Comfort Inn Salmon Arm BC, Rodney’s Oyster House, Strathmore Golf Club, Sunset Ranch Golf Club BC, Tim Hortons, Vintage Chophouse Calgary, Bow Valley Ranche Restaurant, Spolumbo’s Fine Foods & Deli, Calgary Zoo, Edo Japan, Harry Rosen and The Keg.
On Saturday at the golf course, there will be representatives from the Sheriff’s station as well as from the MCSC. The golf tournament starts at 2 p.m. For more information about the annual event and how to sponsor, contact Richard Alford by email at richard.alford@gov.ab.ca.