Young Life golf outing proceeds will help mentor area teenagers

Young Life golf outing proceeds will help mentor area teenagers
Submitted

A few of the golfers at last year’s Young Life golf outing ham it up for the camera after a day of golf. Proceeds from this outing on Sept. 19 at Black Gold Golf Course in Sugarcreek go toward funding Young Life’s efforts to build relationships with area teens.

                        

Many of today’s young people can often feel like they are by themselves on an island when it comes to the struggles life is throwing at teens these days.

Thanks to one local organization, they don’t have to go through that experience without receiving some guidance from people who truly care about them.

Helping young people through life’s struggles and celebrating their accomplishments is the goal of the volunteer staff at Young Life of Tuscarawas & Holmes Counties, where building relationships with area teens is at the heart of their mission. In addition, they are there to simply be a friend and an encourager as teens meet life’s demands.

In order to reach out into area school districts, Young Life will host its major fundraiser on Sept. 19. The annual golf scramble will take place at Black Gold Golf Course near Sugarcreek.

The four-person scramble, which is normally reserved for the summer months, will take place Saturday, Sept. 19 this year due to COVID-19 issues. The event will include 18 holes of golf, carts, refreshments, lunch and a chance to win some awards. Cash awards for winning teams will be awarded, along with longest drive, closest to the hole, longest putt, a skins game and other games.

Like last year, Black and Gold teaching professional Tyler Leight will be available for teams to make a donation for him to hit a shot.

Registration for the event begins at 7:30 a.m. with a shotgun start tee time slated for 8:30 a.m. A banquet and awards meal will follow the end of the tournament at approximately 1:30 p.m. The meal will be a pulled pork dinner with macaroni salad, baked beans and desserts, and in order to create a safer, healthier meal, volunteers will plate the food. There also will be doughnuts and coffee served in the morning.

For something new, they will have contests and drawings on the course for door prizes this year.

“With COVID-19 we weren’t sure how many people will be hanging around afterward, so we thought it would be neat to take some of the things we usually do after the outing and have them during the golf,” event coordinator Angie Tango said. “We think it will add a lot of new fun to the outing.”

Young Life continues to seek hole sponsorships for the event, as well as anyone who would like to volunteer to help out wherever needed during the event.

Tango, who grew up in the area, moved away from home and two years ago moved back to the area. She was seeking some way to give back to the community when Young Life director Heidi Troyer talked about needing someone to step in and steer the golf fundraiser. Tango, who grew up playing golf, felt a calling to fulfill that obligation.

“It was perfect. I got to help kids and do something I love. I grew up here and wanted to give back in a meaningful way,” Tango said. “So many individuals, families and businesses in our community were so great to me. I want to be a part of that experience.”

Tango said this event raises a large portion of the funds needed to create opportunities for the organization to connect with teens and provide mentoring and add another positive adult presence into teens lives.

“It’s an important part of creating opportunities for our Young Life volunteers to connect with the kids,” Tango said.

The team at Young Life of Tuscarawas & Holmes Counties has made huge strides at both West Holmes High School and Garaway High School.

With COVID-19 forcing people into social distancing and forcing groups to hit the pause button on group functions, Young Life has struggled to continue to meet with young people. Tango said the leaders have tried to create ways to connect with youth through Zoom meetings, but now that school is back in session, it has reopened the avenues of seeing the teens on their own turf at events.

The Zoom nights would include music or dance night, game nights, or simply letting the teens talk about life.

“Our team has been amazing and very faithful in finding any way they could to stay connected with the kids during this time,” Tango said. “The counselors are a great team to work with because of that dedication, and it is more important now than ever to give our young people an additional adult presence to support them.”

Young Life has provided an avenue for teens to connect with adults and build relationships with other teens in positive, meaningful ways, and the impact the organization has had within its various school settings has been incredible.

Troyer said the main thing Young Life focuses on is the building up of relationships with the teens, and nothing good can come until those relationships are built.

If a person doesn’t golf but would still like to contribute to the cause, they may do so by becoming a sponsor for the event. While they have sponsorship levels of $1,000, $750, $500 and $250, Tango said they realize not everyone can afford those amounts.

“We would be honored to accept any-size donation because it all goes to benefit the kids, so if people want to give $215, $50 or whatever they are comfortable with, we would gladly accept.”

Anyone wishing to register a team or become a sponsor member may call Tango at 330-432-1899 or email angela.tango@tangoandgatti.com.

Checks may be made payable to Young Life OH27 and sent to Young Life Golf Outing, 214 Parkhill Drive NE, Sugarcreek, OH 44654.

The cost to enter is $300 per team and includes team favors.


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