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Van EDC Director thanks Swing for Van volunteers
Submitted by Willspoint1 on
May 10, 2015, is a day the citizens of Van will never forget. The tornado damage and loss of life in our community made us realize how fragile we are and how things can change in a matter of seconds.
The resilience of the people in Van and support from people and organizations in and around Van Zandt County have been an essential part of our recovery process. This support has given the people of Van the hope and strength to move forward.
Helping Van in their tornado recovery process will take many years and we will continue to need help in so many ways from so many people.
The Swing For Van Recovery Golf Tournament held July 25 at The Van Zandt Country Club was nothing more than a group of volunteers coming together to show their support and it was a huge success.
As the Van EDC Director I wanted to do something for Van but didn’t know exactly what to do. I was having a casual conversation with Dennis Clarkson about wanting to do something to help Van and the Van ISD by raising financial support in some way.
Dennis Clarkston already had a dream of raising money for the victims of Van, along with helping the teachers that had lost all of their belongings in their classrooms. It was like a bolt of lightning striking, because after our conversation the Gold Golf Tournament committee was formed and the work began.
What would normally take a fundraiser of this size six months to put together, the group did it in two.
It was a wonderful and rewarding experience to have such a group of dedicated community supporters from all over working so hard to put this together and making it happen.
The day consisted of jump houses, vendors on the course giving away food and goodies, local Texas bands playing under the pavilion and La Pradera furnishing lunch for all golfers and volunteers.
The event consisted 40 golf teams participating in the event. Game Day attended the event and hosted a silent auction. Robust Blue Man along with Burton Gilliam, star of Blazing Saddles, Linda Brenner former Dallas Desire quarterback, and David Buehler, former kicker of the Dallas Cowboys, were on site to sign autographs for the day. The amount raised was close to $50,000.00.
A big thank you goes to so many people and we are forever grateful.
Roger Johnson
Executive Director,
Van Economic Development Corporation
