News Release
For Immediate Release: May 19, 2009
Sugar Bush golf committee’s lasting
legacy
(MANTUA, Ohio)
May 19, 2009 – When a small
group of people gathered in Garrettsville,
Ohio, 23 years ago, few realized the lasting
impact.
The goal at the time
was to raise money for the nonprofit organization
Hattie Larlham, which cares for people with
developmental disabilities, through a charity
golf outing.
“I’ll
never forget the day I toured Hattie Larlham,”
said Lillian Koval, Sugar Bush Golf Club
representative and founding committee member.
“That trip cinched it for us. We knew
we wanted to do something.”
Shortly after the
tour, the Sugar Bush Golf Club teamed up
with a committee that was created to coordinate
what would be the club’s biggest fundraiser
of the year, the Hattie Larlham Sugar Bush
Golf Classic. Proceeds from the event would
benefit Hattie Larlham.
Committee member Charlie
Abraham, whose father Bruce has been with
the committee since the beginning, said
the group starts planning five to six months
out by getting sponsors, golfers and raffle
prizes.
“There’s
a lot of planning that goes into the event,”
Abraham said. “It’s all about
getting on the phone and making connections.”
Today, the committee,
many of whom were there from the start,
has raised more than $462,000 for Hattie
Larlham. The proceeds have helped fund playground
and therapy equipment, adaptive toys, an
educational center and the Hope at Work
capital project, a $16 million expansion
and renovation of the Hattie Larlham Center
for Children with Disabilities located in
Mantua, Ohio.
It’s the same
facility Koval toured all those years ago.
“The passion
to help organizations like Hattie Larlham
has to come from the heart,” said
Bob DiBiasio, Cleveland Indians vice president
of public relations and Hattie Larlham Sugar
Bush Golf Classic co-host. “When you’ve
found a cause that you have a connection
with, you need to act on it—and that’s
exactly what the Sugar Bush committee has
been doing for all these years.”
About Hattie Larlham
Established in 1961,
Hattie Larlham is a Mantua, Ohio, nonprofit
organization that provides services throughout
the state to 1,500 children and adults with
mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
Hattie Larlham was one of the top 99 Northeast
Ohio organizations to work for in 2008.
For more information, visit www.hattielarlham.org.
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 sb_committee.jpg
(2.1 Mb) – Hattie Larlham Sugar Bush
Golf Classic committiee members from left
to right: Jonathan Goldston, Gretchen Cram,
Les Smeach, Rich Wanders, Judge Joe Giulitto,
Ken Mueller, Lil Koval and Mike Giulitto.
Contact
Bill
Wahl, Communications
and Media Relations
Coordinator
phone: 330.274.2272, ext. 3011
e-mail: bill.wahl@hattielarlham.org
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