Central Albertans drove, chipped and putted to raise money for STARS air ambulance this past weekend.
More than $40,000 was raised at the fifth annual STARS Charity Golf Tournament at the Whispering Pines Golf and Country Club Resort in Pine Lake, about 35 kilometres east of Penhold, Friday and Saturday.
Jeff Willmer, Whispering Pines director of golf, said the organizing committee – Willmer, Dean Boyer, Merv Giles, and Earl Paget – wanted to raise about $28,000 this year.
“It’s absolutely incredible to have a small community come together like that and completely blow our goal out of the water,” he said.
Through the event’s first five years, more than $112,000 has been raised for STARS air ambulance.
“It grows every year,” Willmer said. “The event was full about two weeks prior to us even teeing off. The support we have here is unbelievable.”
There were 116 golfers playing in the tournament, which is the most the event has ever had. Willmer said it’s “surreal” seeing the tournament grow.
“It takes a village for something like this to happen – it was not just (the organizing committee), it was the whole community.
“More and more people are purchasing places out here and getting involved in the community. It really brings people together,” he said.
Willmer said STARS hits close to home for a lot of people.
“STARS has landed out here a few times behind our driving range and a few holes on our golf course. It plays a huge part for us out here because we’re so rural. It’s important for us to support a charity like STARS that can help save some lives,” he said.
Willmer said a majority of the golfers either live in Pine Lake or spend their weekends there.
Planning for the sixth annual tournament, scheduled for August 2019, will begin soon, he added.
“We have a new goal we’ll need to meet,” he said. “We haven’t really come up with anything new and exciting yet, but we’re definitely going to have something different each year.”
Willmer said the goal every year is to raise more money than the previous year.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter