Alumni came out to a fundraiser golf tournament at the Pheasantback Golf Course in order to support the Circle Square Ranch on Monday, May 26.
“There are a lot of alumni, businessmen that we know from the Stettler area, some from Calgary and Edmonton, but a major chunk of it is just the alumni that have been through the ranch and contacts that they have, so people that believe in the ranch,” said executive director Kevin Perry.
First time participants were asked to pay $500 to compete in the tournament, while returning golfers were asked to pay $1,000. The tournament drew 66 golfers, and Perry hopes to raise $100,000 for the ranch.
The money will go to renovating or building, as well as increasing the programs. Specifically, the money will go to building a hall at the camp’s junior camp facility to go along with the new dormitories.
“We hope that they (the participants) feel that there’s a bigger thing that they’re committing to…because we know working at the ranch, we can’t do it on our own, at all…so they’re contributing to allow our place to exist,” Perry said. “They’re coming alongside and helping us make changes that are gravely overdue.”
Every golfer who participates win a prize, and major prizes go to the top teams and the teams who bring in the most money. Prizes include a gift certificate for the Sheraton in Calgary and zero-gravity lawn chairs.
“Just a plethora of prizes,” he said.
Perry said people who experience the ranch learn wisdom, they become physically stronger, and to become better at interacting socially.
“With those skills, wherever they take them to apply them or plug them in – whether it’s with athletics, whether it’s academics –we want to give them a good foundation that they can start to model their life around and start to be successful,” Perry said.