Pictured left to right-Blake Leddick/co-organizer, Tee Time for Toys Charity Golf Tournament, Sue Underwood/Executive Director, Genesee Cancer Assistance, Teigan Desautels, T’s-Toys, and Scott Douglas/co-organizer, Tee Time for Toys Charity Golf Tournament.
The first ever Tee Time for Toys Charity Golf Tournament was held at Batavia Country Club on Saturday afternoon.
Blake Leddick and Scott Douglas say they organized the Charity Golf Tournament over a few months. The pair are coworkers.
“We’ve been bouncing around the idea for a golf tournament for a couple years, then we’re like let’s just do it,” says Douglas.
52 golfers participated, with 13 teams. The group hit the course at Batavia Country Club about 2:30p.m. and helped raise $760 for the basket raffle, which will be donated to Genesee Cancer Assistance, and $295 in the 50/50 Raffle, with $155 going to T’s-Toys, organized by Teigan Desautels.
“We came up with the idea to do a golf tournament and we were looking for sponsors, so I got with Blake and he brought in Genesee Cancer Assistance, that was great, they did the baskets, then Teigan, we thought we should do something for her to help her out with her charity, so we did the 50/50 to help her cause,” Douglas says.
Teigan Desautels, 11, of Batavia, is Douglas’ niece. She has been raising money to purchase toys that she delivers to kids at Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo during the Christmas holiday. She has been delivering toys for three years on her own. Today, she received a little help from Tee Time for Toys Charity Golf Tournament.
“It makes me feel really good about myself and I like helping the kids in the hospital actually feel Christmas spirit, says Desautels. I was watching YouTube videos and saw a person donating a bunch of things to a bunch of kids with cancer and I was thinking that I could do the same.”
Sue Underwood, Executive Director of Genesee Cancer Assistance, says events like the one today help them get the word out about how they help others in the community.
“Blake is one of our board members and he’s always looking for ways to raise money for us, so we’re just very excited that he thought about us, this is just one of those things that you can show up and it helps us get the word out.”
Next year, Leddick says they will switch out organizations that they will raise funds for.
“We’re gonna keep being that organization that constantly keeps giving back,” says Leddick.
