Drive For The Cure

Although yesterday was double cardio Tuesday, I took the day off and spent it at Redwoods Golf Course as a volunteer for the 12^th annual Drive for the Cure Golf Tournament.   The weather could not have been any better for it, summer finally arrived!

Having not being part of this event before I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It was obvious from the moment that we started setting up that this group was a finely oiled machine!  It didn’t take long to pull everything together for the noon shot gun start.  The theme for yesterday’s event was western, which I didn’t clue into right away.  Even living where I do, I did think that it was a bit odd that everyone was wearing cowboy hats at a golf course.  I may live in the country but I don’t have the country accessories, so I was happy that one of the other volunteers had brought extra cowboy hats, I always like to feel part of the party.

We had a bit of downtime before the golfers arrived, so I took the liberty (as did others) of sampling what the tailgate food tent had to offer.  From the first look I knew that this was going to be a delicious but not a low calorie day.  I could have opted for the more health conscious version, but when in Rome or Nashville (staying with the country theme) as I was yesterday I went with the special “taco salad in a bag”.  In a bag you say? Yes in a bag…they took a bag of taco chips (ok, they were cheesy Doritos), and instead of opening the bag from the top, they cut it open down the side (giving you a moment to complete the visual), you then got to choose what went into your taco salad, I opted for ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and a smidge of sour cream.  It was fantastic, good thing that I teach two ‘Works’ classes today!  I will be stealing that idea and modifying it slightly for my daughter’s ball team, you can steal it too, let it be my gift to you today.

The party started about 11:30am, the 128 golfers arrived in fabulous moods, and why not, the sun was out and they were ready to hit the greens with taco salad in a bag.  At noon the games began.  I checked in for my next duty where I was teamed up with a very familiar face.  Our first job was to take ice, an umbrella and umbrella stand in our golf cart to the Jack Daniels hole…could my day get any better?  We spent the better part of the afternoon doing what volunteers in a golf cart do, shuttling food, beverages and other volunteers from one hole to another.  Other than volunteering at the Jack Daniels hole, I do believe that I had one of the best jobs!

We returned to the clubhouse later and got ready for dinner, presentations, the silent auction and the reverse draw.   Since its inception, the Drive for the Cure Committee, with generous support of local BC businesses and individuals, has raised over $1 million to provide funds for cancer care and treatment in British Columbia.  The presentations were very moving.  Cancer has touched us all, in the last five years I have lost a father-in law and two wonderful friends to this brutal disease, but have also had some fierce friends battle and win because of advancements in treatments and facilities from the monies raised from foundations such as Drive For The Cure.  So how did we do…we raised $110,000.00!!!!!  A big thank you to all who opened their hearts and wallets last night, and a big thank you to Robbie and Kirk for allowing me to be a part of Team Drive For The Cure.