For the 32nd year running, CIRI held its annual Golf Classic in August, raising more than $110,000 for local youth and education nonprofits. The recipients of funds from this year’s tournament were Best Beginnings, Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) and My House.
Best Beginnings is a public-private partnership that mobilizes people and resources to ensure that all Alaska children begin school ready to succeed. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s Golf Classic will go toward Best Beginnings’ participation in Imagination Library, a program that mails a brand new book for free each month to children up to age five in communities that support the program.
BBBS of Alaska helps children realize their potential and build their futures by matching adult volunteers with children ages six through 18 in meaningful, positive relationships that change children’s lives for the better. “We help find mentors to spend time with kids who are facing one kind of adversity or another, kids who just need someone else in their lives to help them develop the kind of confidence they need to succeed in school and life,” said BBBS CEO Taber Rehbaum at this year’s post-Golf Classic banquet.
My House is a relatively new Matanuska-Susitna Valley nonprofit that provides safe shelter for homeless youth and connects kids to a network of caring adults and agencies able to assist young people in becoming self-sufficient. My House generates a portion of its own funding through three for-profit businesses, which also serve as training programs that provide homeless teens and young adults with job skills and experience.
“The fundraising that you’re doing here today helps us keep going forward,” My House founder and director Michelle Overstreet told this year’s Golf Classic participants. “Thank you so much, CIRI, for choosing us to be one of your beneficiaries, and thank you for coming out and playing golf today.”
To hear more about Golf Classic recipients, check out Episode 2, “Perk, Putt, Provide,” of CIRIosity, CIRI’s podcast, at ciri.com/ciriosity.
Employees of Peak Oilfield Service Co. launched the golf tournament in 1983 to raise funds for The CIRI Foundation, a CIRI nonprofit. More recently, proceeds have gone to other charitable organizations dedicated to youth and education. Through the years, the tournament has raised about $1.8 million toward this common goal.
CIRI is grateful to the many generous sponsors and volunteers who help make this tournament a success. For more information on the CIRI Golf Classic, visit www.cirigolf.com.
