By Bill Morgan, Staff Writer
Great River Faith In Action (GRFIA) held their fourth annual scramble golf tournament at Pebble Creek Monday and hosted 18 teams.
With the 72 golfers, GRFIA raised just over $20,000 which will be used for operational expenses that go towards helping the elderly in local communities with rides to doctor's appointments and grocery stores, light housekeeping, yard work and friendly visits.
“Our goal is to keep the elderly in their homes as long as it safely possible for them,” said Darin Bohlken, GRFIA’s business director.
“Also for suppling furniture and household items to families in need. We never charge our clients so events like this are vital to us in raising money to support our clients.”
The foursome from Olson Electric took home first place with a 57. Second place went to Century Link and third went to Team Bulldog, led by Dwight Lundeen.
The tournament featured on-course competitions including a chipping contest, a putting contest, longest drive, longest putt and hole-in-one contests on each Par 3. On one Par 3, the prize was a week-long trip to play golf at St. Andrews in Scotland (no winner). The trip was valued at $15,000.
The hole-in-one sponsor was Rooke, Johnson & Renslow Insurance.
Some of the raffle prizes given out were three sets of Minnesota Wild tickets, two $100 Craguns gift cards, four rounds of golf with cart at Breezy Point, plus 23 other great raffle prizes.
The meal served after the event included pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, beans, salads and desserts.
Gold sponsors for the event were: Pellco, Northwest Machine, Darter Plastics, Talon Innovations/Ichor, Becker Furniture World, AMS Storage, Victory Ministries, PEM and J&B Foods.
Silver sponsors were: M&M Precision Machining, Olson Electric, Nergan KDV, Unity Shows, Bluestone Grill/Caring For Nancy, Liberty Paper, UMC and Aroplax.
Bronze sponsors were: Gries Lenhardt Allen, United Health, Ultra Durable Technologies, Barry & Barb Fluth and Mitsubishi Hitachi Tool.
Hole sponsors were: Community Development Bank, Bless MN, Productivity, Inc., Lutheran Trust, Deco Tools, Princeton Insurance, Fraser Steel, Sherburne State Bank and Precision Plumbing.
“A wonderful job by the staff at Pebble Creek in hosting this event for the second year and we look forward to having it there again in August 2019,” said Bohlken.
Great River Faith in Action is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. They focus on helping the elderly, family caregivers, and families in crisis through the services they offer.
GRFIA serves the following communities: Albertville, Becker, Big Lake, Clear Lake, Clearwater, Elk River, Monticello, Otsego, St. Michael and Zimmerman.
