Partners for Parks Helps Keep Scholarship Fund Teed-Up

A popular golf fundraiser in our region was able to swing for the moon this year thanks to its first-ever partnership with Partners for Parks. The 6th Moon Shine Golf Event – a glow-in-the-dark tournament – scored $3750 for the North Carolina Recreation & Parks Scholarship Foundation.

“It’s a really great tournament, and people enjoy it,” says Byron Haigler, the Assistant Director of Cabarrus County Active Living and Parks, co-hosts of the tournament.  “Players love the format, and we like the money it brings in for our scholarship fund.”

Haigler hatched the night-golf tournament in 2014 with an organizer at Monroe Country Club. The field is limited to 15 teams of 4, and fills up every year without advertising. Players’ entry fees include a BBQ dinner, and glow-in-the dark LED ball and neckband. They can also pay for Mulligans and raffle tickets to win additional prizes. This year’s tournament included sponsored masks and hand sanitizer in every player’s swag bag, with directions for social distancing for COVID. Everyone had a “ball,” says Haigler.

“It took the seriousness of the tournament out of it, it changed everyone’s attitudes, and everyone had fun,” says Haigler. Entrants played the back 9 of Monroe Country Club during the daylight hours, then ate dinner watching the sunset as the fairways lit up with “runway lights” and flashing beacons at each hole. Then they played the front 9 in the dark, with flashlights on their golf carts and marshals on every hole to ensure safety. The course is reversed, says Haigler, because the first 9 holes have fewer hazards like water.

Haigler wasn’t sure the popular tournament could proceed this year, as all of the NC Recreation & Park Association fundraisers in the region were canceled for COVID. The state association was hesitant to proceed, but Haigler and the Director of Cabarrus County Active Living and Parks, Londa Strong, turned to Partners for Parks to handle the financial duties.

“Doing it through Partners for Parks allowed us to have the tournament,” says Strong.  “All of our fundraising has been nipped in the bud this year, but this really helped.”

Strong says organizers doubled down on safety, serving boxed dinners instead of a buffet, and encouraging players to spread out while they ate. Musco Lighting, maker of LED sports lighting equipment, sponsored masks, and hand sanitizer for every player. Winners were notified later instead of at an awards ceremony.

The Monroe Country Club offered free passes to raffle winners, and the Cabarrus County Active Living and Parks chipped in with free cabin stays for winners, too. The savings on raffle prizes allowed the group to give more money than ever to the scholarship fund, thanks to the partnership that allowed the tournament to take place.

“It’s very rewarding knowing that we can provide the money for the scholarship foundation,” says Strong. She says the agency was excited to partner with Partners for Parks to be a member, expanding its reach beyond Mecklenburg County, and is looking forward to more projects with the foundation.

“Without Partners for Parks,” she says, “it would not be as easy to fund our projects.”

“Our partnership with Cabarrus County Active Living and Parks is a perfect example of how we partner with regional groups”, says Al Brown, Treasurer of Partners for Parks.  “We are honored to able to assist in providing scholarships to the North Carolina Recreation and Parks Scholarship Foundation.”