It was a beautiful day at Cinnabar Hills Golf Cub on Monday September 25 as over 100 parents, teachers, students, and others in the community gathered together for Valley Christian School's 14th Annual Golf Classic, one of Valley's longest standing and most successful fundraisers. It was first begun in 1993 by the high school PTPF with the hopes of establishing a quality event that would "carry the name of Valley Christian High School to the general community" and "obtain a source of recurring substantial financial donations to purchase equipment and materials to benefit the high school." With these two goals in mind, they set about organizing the first tournament, uncertain of the outcome, and trying to find enough golfers to cover the expenses. This first tournament succeeded in making $14,000 over expenses and thus became the first of the now 14 years of successful Golf Classics. Since then, the Classic has succeeded in its financial goals, raising over $400,000 for the PTPF fund. This fund has been used to support Valley's educational departments by providing the funds for equipment, supplies, and programs. Basically, said PTPF president Javonne Kreuger, "the monies from this are used to support the teachers in every way that the budget does not... frankly it is everything from coffee and creamers to hands on staff that are their clerical support. Promoting a positive teacher morale is a big part of PTPF support as well as all the special events-registration, back to school night, new parent orientation, open house, teacher treats, and quarterly luncheons. On the clerical side, the funds cover typing, photocopying, filing, and classroom support. Really, our Parent Teacher Volunteer coordinator is the key position that we pay for and reap the rewards of the money from the golf tournament." Valley Christian's name has also successfully been carried throughout the community by way of this tournament. Local companies and business people sponsor the tournament in exchange for their company's name displayed and promoted at the Classic. These companies also participate in the Classic, many of them for a numbers of years. As hoped for, sponsoring business people in recent years have made up nearly 50% of the participants. Some parents also sponsor teachers so that they my have the opportunity to play. The fun, laid-back and playfully competitive atmosphere of the Classic and its impeccable organization are truly the main reasons for its success. The participants of this year's tournament all agreed that it was well worth their time and money to be able to participate in such an enjoyable event.

The golfers arrived at 11:00am for check in and lunch and then at 1:00pm were off in their foursomes to play some good five hours of golf. Though some came in competition for the cash prizes that were awarded to the three top finishing teams, most came to support the Valley community to play some good golf with their friends. Other fun prizes, such as a car, awaited those who succeeded in making a hole in one, yet sadly, no one prospered in this. After golf, all participants were treated to a fantastic dinner and the night was concluded by the tournament MC, our own Scott Wessling. With just around 108 golfers and a number of sponsors, this, year's Golf Classic ended as a huge success and will undoubtedly carry on the tournaments record of excellence.

The tournament chairperson, Lisa Kester and the rest of the PTPF want to give special recognition to all the company and personal sponsorships that were received. "We have many teachers who love to golf. This year 15 teachers joined the Golf Classic and every one of them was 100% sponsored," stated Kester. She continued, "On behalf of the PTPF, we want to thank our sponsors for their generosity. We also want to thank our golfers because without you there wouldn't be a tournament. We hope to see everyone again next year for our 15th Annual VCHS Golf Classic."

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