Golfers and sponsors came together Friday to create one of the most successful charity golf tournaments ever held for Voices for Children, according to its executive director.
The weather was perfect, with sunny skies, temperatures in the 80s and a gentle breeze as 30 teams and 120 individuals took part, leading Voices Executive Director Sherri Neikirk to shake her head in awe.
"We had more sponsors this year than we've ever had before," Neikirk said as she took pictures of her staff and volunteers as they were finally able to grab a bite of lunch. "This is our biggest year ever in teams, as well as sponsors."
Neikirk said that when she and her staff were planning the tournament months ago, they worried that covid-19 would interfere. The opposite proved true, she said, with many sponsors sending in door prizes and money, even if they weren't going to field a golf team.
"We've just had a wonderful response," Neikirk said.
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One of the local sponsors was Jefferson Regional Medical Center. One of the hospital's players was Larry Kennedy, an administrator, who said the hospital likes to support local agencies, and that Voices for Children and this tournament were favorites.
"Every year, we look for opportunities to support the community," Kennedy said, adding that "the kids need us."
Voices for Children recruits and trains volunteers who then act as advocates for children in foster care. Their service to the community is important to Circuit Judge Earnest Brown Jr., who kicked off the proceedings with a few words of thanks for the organizers and participants.
Brown said the agency's advocates "give me an independent eye on what's going on with families and children."
He said he has been conducting Zoom meetings since March and has been "very, very busy" because there has been an increase in the number of children in foster care. Before the pandemic, he said, there were fewer than 100 children in foster care, and now there are 128. That, he said, amounts to a big increase, adding that the pandemic has exacerbated the problems that families normally encounter.
"They are my eyes and ears in the field," Brown said of the Voices agency.
Neikirk also thanked the participants, saying "every dollar" that was raised by the group on Friday stays in Lincoln and Jefferson counties, the area the agency serves. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."