The foursome of Brian Whitley, Michael Johnson, Matt Kowalczyk and Brian Welsh won the 11th annual Par for the Course fundraiser for Fish & Loaves Sept. 14 at Taylor Meadows Golf Club.
By DAVE GORGON
For the Downriver Sunday Times
TAYLOR – A tie-breaker determined the championship of the 11th annual Fish & Loaves Par for the Course golf outing at Taylor Meadows Golf Club.
The foursome of Brian Whitley, Michael Johnson, Matt Kowalczyk and Brian Welsh shot a 15-under-par 57 for the 18-hole scramble – the same score as the team of Chuck Stephenson, Scott Kemp, Shawn Lewis and Tom Downs.
Tournament officials compared the teams’ scores in the four toughest holes and determined Whitley, Johnson, Kowalczyk and Welsh – sponsored by Load One – were the winners.
The largest client-choice food pantry in the state, Fish & Loaves is a Taylor-based community food pantry that helps serve the nutritional needs of seven communities in the region. It relies on fundraising events, donations, food drives and volunteerism throughout the year to keep its shelves stocked. The golf outing is the pantry’s largest fundraiser of the year.
The Load One team also took two of the three skins during the outing. The third skin was won by the team of Dustin Lent, Mark Dasche, Rob Hamyak and Mark Gaworecki.
“Closest to the Line” honors went to Lori Bondy, Jack Krygier and Jim Wright. “Closest to the Pin” recognition went to Susan Witek and Clayton Young.
Tied for third in the golf outing at 11-under par was the foursome of Paul O’Neil, Jason and Justin Yunk, and Kenny Losay and the team of Drew Judge, Jake Reed, and Ryan and Archie Gonzalez.
Matt Grant won the main raffle prize, a television. Carl Yunk won the 50/50 drawing, donating half of the money to Fish & Loaves. In a special unexpected gesture praised by Fish & Loaves, golfer Bob O’Neil matched a special “pass the bucket donation” of hundreds of dollars in honor of the family of Dick and Dot O’Neil.
Fish & Loaves Executive Director Mary Hollens thanked all of the donors, golfers, sponsors and volunteers for making the outing a success. Gold-level sponsors included Load One, Mans Lumber, UAW Region 1A-Chuck Browning Director, Tim Horton’s-Ravinder and Anita Saini and LifeBridge Church.
Hollens said it takes more than $20,000 a month for the nonprofit organization to provide food to the needy residents in the its service area, which includes Taylor, Southgate, Allen Park, Dearborn Heights, Brownstown Township, Romulus and Woodhaven.
Fish & Loaves is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteer-based food pantry. A faith-based, client-choice organization, Fish & Loaves provided emergency food assistance to individuals and families with compassion, respect, dignity and generosity. The pantry’s mission is to ensure that “No One Goes Hungry.”
For more information, go to www.flcfp.org or call 734-992-6284.