A Priceless Connection
The coolest part of the whole tournament was that we made a very valuable connection with a man named Greg Buchai. Greg is from the Ukraine and "happened to" (i.e., God ordained the whole thing!) be in one of our foursomes. His formal title is "The Honorable Gregory Buchai - Honorary Consul of Ukraine"--sounds pretty cool, huh?! Basically, Greg is from the Ukraine, lives in Sugar Land, and has offered to help our boys when they get home. Some ways that he can help us include connections with other adolescent Ukrainian-Americans here in our area (some who were also adopted), information on classes for Ukrainian culture, language, etc. Basically, he's going to be vital in helping our boys keep their Ukrainian heritage alive (and teaching us about it!), which will certainly help them feel more at home in their new forever family.
Getting our Message Across
We kept our passions at the forefront of this tournament so that our golfers would know exactly what "cause" they were supporting. Ukrainian flags were displayed (and the colors blue and yellow were our theme), the goodie bags contained t-shirts from the STUCK documentary, the t-shirts given as prizes spoke the message "it's not about me" from Project Hopeful, our boys' pictures were running on screens in every room we were in, we spoke for 5-10 minutes about international adoption (and even showed a 2 minute clip from the STUCK documentary, detailing the process that adoptive families go through for international adoptions), and Greg even stood up after us to speak for a few minutes about the country of Ukraine (totally awesome!).
The Bottom Line
I'm sure you're wondering how much we raised for our adoption fund! Drumroll, please...
$5,600!!!
And if you look at the total raised to date (on the right-hand side of the blog), we are now at $19,836! All of that is because of YOU! So THANK YOU!
The Tournament in Pictures
packing up the goodie bags a few days before
getting the room ready the day before
the décor
signing in; enjoying breakfast; and buying mulligans, putting string, and raffle tickets!
ready to hit the course!
golfing for a cause!
our awesome drink cart drivers!
cooling off and enjoying lunch!
prizes for the winners!
silent auction and raffle items!
Extra Thanks!
There were so many who helped make this tournament a success, so I hesitate to do this because I don't want to leave anyone out. But I have to give MAD PROPS to the following peeps for their skills and their willingness to give up valuable time to support our family.
Graphic Design - my little sister, Sarah Spears created all of the images for our tournament (invites, signs, silent auction sheets, mulligan cards, etc.), which truly made the event look professional!
Idea Man - my brother-in-law, Leon Verriere has participated in several golf tournaments and was an invaluable sounding board for ideas to make our tournament a success--and he traveled 10 hours round trip with 2 of his sons to play in the tournament (and behind every good man is a good woman, so equal props to my sister, Kim Verriere).
Setup - my friend and neighbor, Melissa Soileau stepped up big time to help haul everything to the event site, unload all of the heavy boxes, and get everything setup--she took the ball and ran with it, which is exactly what I needed!
Décor - my friend, Shelley Burke created all of the décor for our tournament (Ukrainian flag table runners, tee box centerpieces, etc.) and my friend, Carie Lawson brought it all to life when Shelley got called out of town for work at the last minute--I am truly in awe of their creative abilities!
Right-Hand Girl - my sister-in-law, Traci Huss came early and stayed late to help with anything I needed her to--such a trooper!
Tech Help - my brother-in-law, Josh Huss took a day off work so he could help--and he helped this non-tech savvy girl more than he probably knows by handling the setup and running the video and photos (and he also stood in the heat with our friend, Kurt Lawson to run the marshmallow drive competition!).
Grunt Work - my mom, Patty Alewyne and our family friend, Pam Andrews drove 10 hours round trip to do whatever I needed them to do--and they did everything from picking up breakfast at 6am to taking care of the trash--a huge help all around!
Greeters and Drink Cart Drivers - my friends, Aimee Flores and Shannon Peterson came bright and early with smiles on their faces to help with the tournament. They kept our golfers hydrated in the boiling Texas temps!
Photographer - my cousin-in-law, Daniela Ruiz-Ochoada drove from Austin for the tournament so her hubby could play and she could help--she strapped her kiddo on and took pictures of all of our golfers out on the course (in the heat!)--a huge help!
Sugar Fix - my friend and neighbor, Tiffany Wilks had a cake pop party to make a ton of delicious cake pops for our golfers--and believe me when I say they tasted amazing!
2 comments:
Awesome! I am so glad it went well!!
So cool! So excited for you guys!
~Gini :)
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