Local Veteran’s Charity Golf Tourney Nets $13,000 for Fisher House

1st Place Winners are from left to right, Karl Wicker, Pete Darmstetter, Donna Moses, and Dan Moses.

Local Veteran’s Charity Golf Tourney Nets $13,000 for Fisher House
On Saturday, 14 November under bright blue skies at Bay Dunes Golf Club, local Veterans Organizations held their annual fun Golf Tournament to benefit Fisher House of the Emerald Coast, an organization that builds lodging facilities near military and veterans hospitals to house visiting family members at no cost to the families.

The group, which consists of members of the local AMVETS, VFW, American Legion, Marine Corps League, and Military Order of the Purple Heart, is in its 7th year of fund raising and boasts over $70,000 raised to date towards needy Veterans causes.  This is the second  year that Fisher House was chosen by the group to receive the proceeds

This year, 107 players broken into teams played the course under excellent weather conditions and vied for prizes including a brand new 2009 Kia Automobile put up by Bill Byrd Kia.  Although no one won the auto, James Morris of James Auto missed the prize by about three feet.  With final scores adjusted to compensate for handicaps, there was less than a one point difference between the top three teams.

At the end of the day, it was the team consisting of  Karl Wicker Pete Darmstetter, Donna Moses, and Dan Moses that took home the winner’s trophies with a net score of 58.1 but more importantly, a fun time was had by all with door prizes being given to at least one player on each team.  Prizes were also given for Best Dressed, and Oldest and Youngest Players in the tournament.  The prizes were donated by local merchants who will be appropriately recognized in an upcoming edition of the News Herald.

Following the tournament, a check in the amount of $13,000 was presented to the Vice President of the Fisher House of the Emerald Coast, Joe Oder.  This makes a total of $30,000 in the past two years in donations to the organization.  The facility is currently under construction right outside Eglin Air Force Base in Okaloosa County and scheduled to open to accept visiting families next August.  In accepting the donation, Oder lauded the efforts of the group stating that in his visits to Fisher Houses around the state, the expression of appreciation on the faces of the families receiving lodging accommodations in the facilities is heartwarming and instills a sense of accomplishment to those involved in the effort. The group plans another tournament next year sometime around Veterans Day to support additional Veterans needs.  Story By:  Danny Somers – AMVETS Post 2298 Public Relations Officer