BRADENTON – The Fourth Annual Anna Maria Island Rotary Club Golf Classic is scheduled for Wednesday, April 4 at 1 p.m.
Interested golfers can still register for the tournament taking place at the IMG Academy Golf Club in Bradenton.
Limited to 120 golfers, the tournament features foursomes playing in a scramble format. The entry fee is $100 per golfer and includes 18 holes of golf, an electric cart, lunch, an awards dinner and on-course beverages. You do not need to be a Rotary Club member to play in the Golf Classic. For tournament registration or sponsorship information, call Dennis Schuermann at 727-742-0762 or email him at dschuermann@msn.com.
Tournament sponsors include The Sun and LaPensee Pools.
This year’s winning foursome will take home cash prizes. Several other awards and raffle prizes will also be given away. If someone shoots a hole-in-one on the designated par 3 they will win a new Volkswagen from Boast Volkswagen in Bradenton.
When asked if anyone has won a car in the club’s past tournaments, AMI Rotary Club Vice President Judy Rup said, “Not yet, that would be nice.”
The raffle prizes will include a wheelbarrow full of adult spirits currently valued at approximately $500.
“Anybody can buy raffle tickets. It’s a way to contribute to the projects we do on the Island, especially if they’re not golfers,” Rup said.
Raffle tickets are now selling for $10 per ticket or $20 for three tickets. The winner does not have to be present to win. To purchase raffle tickets, call Rup at 941-518-1965 or touch base with her at one of the club’s weekly meetings. Open to the public, the AMI Rotary Club meets at the Bridge Street Bistro in Bradenton Beach each Tuesday at noon.
AMI Rotary causes
The annual Golf Classic is the AMI Rotary Club’s largest annual fundraiser. Last year’s tournament raised approximately $10,000.
“100 percent of the money we earn goes to our projects,” Rup said.
This year’s proceeds will again support several Rotary programs at Anna Maria Elementary School. These include the annual Peace Day Ceremony, the Character Building Program, the Rotary Reader Dolphin Project, new books for the school library, dictionaries for all third-grade students, an essay contest for fourth graders and the Service Above Self Award presented to one fifth-grade student.
The fundraiser will benefit the AMI Rotary’s Learn to Swim Program that teaches water safety, basic swimming strokes and lifesaving skills to at-risk youths. It will also benefit the Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus and Orchestra Young Solo Artist Competition.
The AMI Rotary maintains a welcome sign that greets those entering the Island on Manatee Avenue and a bench at the Manatee County Beach in the changing room area.
“We work with other Manatee County Rotary Clubs on projects that affect our community. We just worked at a Rotary food packing event that packed over 50,000 meals to be distributed in Manatee County,” Rup said.
“We are working with the six other clubs in Manatee County to build three all-inclusive playgrounds that can accommodate children of all abilities. The first will be at the G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton,” she added.
