New Westminster’s Rotary Clubs expect to top the half-a-million dollar mark at this year’s Pot of Gold Tournament.
Now in its 23rd year, the golf tournament is organized by the two local Rotary clubs – the Royal City Rotary Club, which started the tournament in 1996, and the Rotary Club of New Westminster.
“It’s a real milestone for us,” said Rick Molstad, who has chaired the tournament committee for 22 years. “We started out modestly and built it up over the years. Most years lately we have been making about $35,000 with the support of the businesses in the community and individuals.”
This year’s Pot of Gold Tournament is on Tuesday, July 17 at the Mayfair Lakes Golf and Country Club in Richmond.
“It’s a fun, social day. People always enjoy it,” Molstad said. “It’s not a really competitive thing. There are some very good golfers there, but the emphasis is on golfing and socializing with your friends, rather than hitting a low score.”
Registration is $195 per golfer, which includes golf, a cart, lunch, a buffet dinner, prizes, chipping and putting contests and a photo booth with B.C. Lions Felions. The day also features four hole-in-one prizes of at least $25,000.
Molstad said Rotary has supported health and welfare activities throughout the world, including efforts to eradicate polio worldwide, which have helped helping to reduce the number of polio cases from 350,000 in the 1980s to under 100,000 last year.
Money raised at the Pot of Gold Tournament, however, stays closer to home and is directed to a variety of youth programs offered by the Salvation Army in New Westminster, the Lower Mainland Purpose Society for Youth and Families and Rotary. Rotary clubs offer a variety of adventure, vocational and citizenship programs for youth, and support a hot lunch program at New Westminster Secondary School.
“The youth programs, I find to be the most rewarding for me because the youth are our future,” Molstad said. “We need to invest in them to make sure they can make the right decisions in life.”
For details on how to participate in the Pot of Gold tournament as a sponsor, donor or golfer visit www.rotarypotofgoldgolf.com.
