When we begin planning our Swing and a Prayer Golf Outing, everyone on our committee was given a job to help the event run smoothly. St. Joseph is always in charge of the weather, and he has never let us down! The forecast for rain on September 19th had been on and off for days. But when the day finally arrived (thanks to good St. Joseph), the sun shone bright and a beautiful 85⁰ day materialized. Added to that was the beautiful landscape, challenging course and delicious food at Wynstone Golf Club- we pretty much had a perfect day.
The mouthwatering hot off the grill lunch prepared our guests for their afternoon of golf. Mother Margaret manned the Rubber Duck Hole and many of the Little Sisters rode around the course greeting and quietly cheering on the golfers. Several of our Residents arrived at around 1:30 p.m. They relaxed in on the patio and watched the golfers. Many also rode around the course with the Little Sisters, offering encouragement and golfing tips.
The golfers started to trickle in around 5 p.m. Cocktail hour was situated on the beautiful patio overlooking the course. Raffle tickets were deposited into the boxes, as cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres were passed.
The excitement escalated as a large red helicopter arrived and landed on the course in front of the patio in preparation of our Golf Ball Drop. Mother Margaret volunteered to bravely ride up and dump a bucket filled with numbered golf balls above a large red bullseye. Sr. Pauline rode with her for moral support! Hovering above the target, Mother Margaret dumped the balls and a lone ball, #60, landed in the circle. The winning number belonged to Brad Foley, who generously declined his prize and asked Mother Margaret to keep it for our Residents.
Avid ‘Swing and a Prayer’ golfer, Fr. Tom Rzepiela (from St. Thomas of Villanova in Palatine) blessed our food and Mother began the program by thanking everyone for participating and supporting the Little Sisters of the Poor and their mission. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to an appeal for a new refrigerated begging van. Our generous guests donated nearly $30,000 towards the purchase of this new van.
The raffle prize winners were announced and then the live auction began. There was much excitement as our auctioneer, Matt Hart, started the bidding for two sets of premiere Chicago Bears tickets and Blackhawk tickets.
The winners of the outing were announced and each winner received a loaf of the Little Sisters famous homemade bread. Congratulations to our winners (with a score of 56): John Cyboran, David Heasely, Doug Heasely and John Suchomski. Their names will be engraved on the McDonald Memorial Cup.
Our sincere thanks to all of the golfers who joined us and to the companies and individuals whose sponsorships helped underwrite the costs of this event. It is only through your support that we are able to continue our ministry. The success of this event is largely due to the dedication and hard work of our Golf Committee. We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Bob Bates, David Brochu, Gage McCotter, Doug Olson, and Tony Stallone.
See you at the 2017 Swing and Prayer Golf Outing next September! Details coming soon….
A Swing and a Prayer!