The Yellowknife Golf Club is always a good place to hold an event to raise plenty of money for a worthy cause.
The Adlair Aviation/Ryfan Electric Women's Charity Golf Tournament is one of those events. It has handed over tens of thousands of dollars to charities over the years and that continued this year.
While the 2018 tournament was held in early August – the twenty-second one, to be exact – the funds raised were officially donated on Tuesday by members of the organizing committee to the Housing First program, the beneficiary of this year's tournament. In total, $22,500 was given by Trina Rentmeister to Bree Denning, executive director of the Yellowknife Women's Society, which looks after Housing First.
Denning said she isn't sure where the money will be going to exactly but what the donation will do help with costs that aren't covered by city funding.
“That includes furnishings beyond what is needed, some costs for our vehicle that we use to take people to programs and show them apartments and get them moved in,” she said. “There are a number of places where the money could go, it's not earmarked, but it's great to have some flexibility moving to the end of the year.”
The tournament picks a theme every year and a charity which matches that theme. This year, it was Home Is Where The Heart Is and Housing First was the charity.
Rentmeister said there's a solid group of women who come to play in the tournament every year and they love to help out wherever they can.
“When it's a good cause, they love to donate,” she said.
The funds raised come from entry fees as well as from silent auctions but Rentmeister said businesses also chip in to help bump up the total.
“Everyone knows our faces when we come in and they're very generous,” she said. “It's not a hard sell at all and it makes us lots of money which, in turn, goes to our chosen charity each year.”
Picking the charity each year consists of getting around the table and bouncing ideas off everyone with a focus in mind, she added.
“Everyone thinks about it and brings their choices but we like it to have a focus with women and children, something that's dear to our hearts,” she said. “It's not hard to find a charity in Yellowknife that needs some help.”
Denning said the Housing First program does what it can to raise funds throughout the year but it's usually the first thing which falls by the wayside when things get busy.
That's why this donation helps a bunch.
“In a crisis situation, fundraising always falls off the wagon,” she said. “Having an organization that goes around to help out charities around the city takes so much of the effort and planning off of our plate. This is so appreciated and it will help us to be able to balance the demands of running an organization like this.”