CRESTVIEW — If golf is your game and you have a heart for helping others, you want to be at Foxwood Country Club on May 31 for the Operation Medical Care Golf Tournament.
The tournament fundraiser's proceeds will help purchase medical supplies for a late-summer mission trip to Belize.
Big prizes are available for a hole-in-one. Quality Imports has donated a Mercedes Benz and McCaskill and Company Jewelers has donated a luxury watch.
Dr. Joseph Peter of Crestview Pediatrics and Adolescent Center, who has organized the trip the last four years, says he anticipates another successful trip to Central America.
"This is our fifth medical mission trip to Belize," he said. "We chose Belize because we have a priest there who coordinates with our church here.
"Everybody thinks of Belize as a rich Central America country because you see all the cruise ships go around the area. But we don't go anywhere near the rich areas. We go to the five or six remote villages the church has adopted."
The mission team comprises a number of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who pay their own travel expenses. Money raised in the golf tournament helps offset the cost of supplies to care for people of all ages in Belize.
"With six villages, you are looking at roughly 6,000 people you are going to see," Peter said. "One tablet costs about $1.50 so we need to raise funds."
Teams don't have to register, Peter said. "They just have to show up and we will find a team for them. If they don't have a team and want to play they can show up and we will get them on a team.
"The more people come the more money we will make."
Peter still seeks sponsorships and door prizes for the silent auction.
"Where we make the money is the hole-in-one, 50-50 drawing and silent auction and those types of things," he said.
WANT TO HELP?
WHAT: Operation Medical Care Golf Tournament
WHEN: 8 a.m. May 31; registration starts 7 a.m.
Where: Foxwood Country Club, 4927 Antioch Road, Crestview
Cost: $26 Foxwood members, $36 non-members. Hole sponsorships $50, $100, $150 and $250
Contact: Dr. Joseph Peter, 865-8746
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview golf tournament to benefit Belize mission trip