The Plant City Lions Club headed to Diamond Hill Golf Club last Friday for their annual golf tournament, one of the organization’s largest fundraisers of the year.
The Lions Club holds three major fundraisers each year, including their golf tournament, the Strawberry Queen’s Pageant and a food booth operated at the Florida Strawberry Festival, with the golf tournament raising around $13,000 last year.
“This tournament is organized by the Plant City Lions Club and all local sponsors through their donations,” club member and tournament organizer Jim Sparks said. “All of the money goes back into the community, that’s what Lions Clubs do. We have new eye screening equipment that we just purchased this year going into daycares and whatnot to screen kids under six. If there’s a child under six and we can screen them in time we can get them glasses, if they can’t afford glasses we’ll pay for it, and if we can get these things identified while they’re under six it can sometimes be corrected through glasses for the rest of their lives. After that it’s a little difficult but that’s our focus, on kids. We do diabetes screenings, eye procedures and things like that. This is one of our major fundraisers that helps us do just that.”
Friday’s tournament included a round of golf, a lunch banquet, an awards ceremony and to raise additional funds, tickets were available for purchase to win a number of prizes that were raffled off at the conclusion of the round. With a full field of 88 participants, the round kicked off at 8 a.m. on a beautiful day in Dover.
The tournament has been a staple for the Plant City Lions Club, being held for over 35 years.
“The Lions Club focuses on vision but they do so much more, with disaster relief, hunger, diabetes and humanitarian efforts,” president Bridget Zickefoose said. “At the Plant City Lions Club we really focus on helping children get glasses. This year’s event has come together and we’ve been doing it for so many years we’ve kind of gotten it streamlined. Tony Lee and Jim Sparks do a great job at making sure that all of the stations have someone to manage it and it’s really fine-tuned. We’ve been at Diamond Hill for a couple of years now and I really think it’s great location to bring people here, not just from Plant City but from surrounding areas to support Plant City.”