SEQUIM — This year’s annual Alaska Invitational golf tournament raised $2,750 for the PDN’s Peninsula Home Fund.
The tournament — an 18-hole, two-person best ball team event with three divisions open to anyone with connections to Alaska — was held May 13 at SunLand Golf and Country Club in Sequim.
This is the sixth year in a row that the tournament has raised money for the Peninsula Home Fund.
Begun by Bob Sinnett, the annual event is now sponsored by Steven Worden of SunLand. Both he and Sinnett are former Alaska residents.
Worden enjoys “giving something back to the community” and says he is particularly impressed that every dollar contributed to the Peninsula Home Fund goes to making life better for children, teens, families and the elderly in Jefferson and Clallam counties, from Forks to Port Townsend, from Quilcene and Brinnon to LaPush.
No money is diverted for administration or other overhead.
The $2,750 gives an early start to the 2006 Home Fund campaign.
Breaking records
A record-smashing $135,168.75 was contributed by individuals, couples, businesses and school groups in Clallam and Jefferson counties during the Peninsula Home Fund’s 2005 holiday fund-raising campaign that ran from Thanksgiving to Dec. 31.
All contributions are fully IRS tax-deductible.
More than 1,500 families and individuals are being helped this year by the Peninsula Home Fund.
Olympic Community Action Programs — OlyCAP, the No. 1 emergency care agency on the North Olympic Peninsula — manages the fund for the PDN.
Every penny collected for the Peninsula Home Fund goes, without deductions, for hot meals for seniors, warm winter coats for children, home repairs for the low income, needed prescription drugs, dental work, safe, drug-free temporary housing, eyeglasses — the list goes on and on.
Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used with money from churches, service clubs and other donors, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contributions.
While the books on the 2005 fund drive closed on Dec. 31, the Peninsula Home Fund itself never closes.
Donations of any amount are always welcome.
They can be sent at any time to Peninsula Home Fund, Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
New contributions — like those from the Alaska Invitational — count toward this year’s campaign, which will officially begin Thanksgiving Day.
To apply for a grant from the Peninsula Home Fund, OlyCAP at 360-452-4726 (Port Angeles), 360-374-6193 (Forks) or 360-385-2571 (Jefferson County).
21 sponsors
Worden and 21 others were sponsors of the Alaska Invitational.
Major sponsors were:
* Port Angeles Ford/Lincoln/Mercury (LeRoy Martin, president).
* Peninsula Daily News (John Brewer, editor and publisher).
* Allan Armstrong Construction.
* Alaska Teamsters Local 959, Anchorage.
* Jean Ernst, Sequim.
* Lost Mountain Winery.
* Peninsula Mortgage, Sequim.
* Red Carpet Car Wash.
* Windermere Real Estate — Sequim/East.
* Windermere Real Estate — Sequim/SunLand.
Hole sponsors, prizes and donations:
* 7 Cedars Casino, Blyn.
* Teamsters Local 589, Port Angeles.
* First Federal Savings and Loan, Port Angeles.
* Clark Land Office, Sequim.
* Bob Sinnett and Ed Jones — “The Alaskans.”
* Peg Rinker, Windermere Real Estate, Sequim/SunLand.
* Costco, Sequim.
* Lady Truffles, Sequim.
* Alaska Brewing Co.
* Donna Worden, Windermere Sequim/SunLand.
* Tyler Sweet, SunLand’s pro.
Tournament results
This year’s champions were Dick and Barb Evans, who recorded a score of 55.
The couple, both retirees from Boeing with a combined service tenure of 74 years, joined SunLand in 1997 and play golf together a couple of times a week.
Wayne Pinger and John Schmerler edged Jim Coulter and Eric Mahnerd by one stroke to win Division 1.
Don Claussen and Fred Kazlauskas tied with Tom Cantwell and Mike Schmidt for the top place in Division 2.
In Division 3, the team of Bob Hedgecock and Jim Hanley tied with Steve Schlaffman and Cindy Schlaffman to share the win.
Cheryl Coulter won the “Closest to the Pin” honors in the women’s division, and Popo Richardson took the men’s top prize.