For a while, it looked as though the Save the Flame Golf Outing on Saturday (June 19th) was going to be rained out, but seemingly through divine power, the clouds cleared, and the event went off without a hitch.
In total, 73 golfers converged on Autumn Ridge Golf Course to support the Eternal Flame Fund, which is used to keep the Eternal Flame in Manitowoc lit.
We spoke with Tom Hoffman, who is one of the organizers of the event, and he called the outing “Fabulous”.
“A bunch of great people came out here to gold today, and had fun,” Hoffman said. “Everyone had a blast.”
There were several prizes available for people to win, including three Hole-In-One prizes worth a total of $20,000, some Autumn Ridge gear, free rounds of golf, and many other items.
Hoffman said that it was going to be close on whether or not they raised the $6,000 they needed to surpass their $200,000 fundraising goal, “But don’t let that deter you, will still take donations through Veteran’s Day,” Hoffman explained. “We have several organizations that could use some help.”
Plus, if you donate $1,000, you can have your name engraved in a stone that will remain at the Flame, located just south of Michigan Avenue on North 18th Street, forever.
The campaign to raise $200,000 to keep the flame lit began in 2018, and Hoffman said that the fact that the community came together to give that much in only three years, especially amid the pandemic, is nothing short of astonishing.
Hoffman also told us a story about a group of young men that helped kick off the campaign in 2018.
He said that there was a group of young men from St. Gregory Church in St. Nazianz who began raising money to donate
“They brought in their allowance money and did odd jobs,” Hoffman said. “Their goal was to raise $100 but when they got all done it was almost $500 they raised for us…They were so patriotic. It makes your heart feel good.”
We were told that the Eternal Flame Committee would likely make this event an annual one, with money raised going toward other local and area veterans groups in need.
