Altrusa holds annual golf tournament
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Altrusa International of Copperas Cove held its 16th annual golf tournament on Saturday and had their biggest turnout ever, according to club members and event co-chair Gail Prestigiacomo.
A total of 19 four-player teams turned out and the lineup filled the event area both inside and out.
“We had players all lined up ad registration, but what was really neat was to see all the golf carts lined up as they headed out,” said Prestigiacomo. “We really lucked out on weather. Two years ago, twice we had to change the date and it ended up in November.”
The tournament is the biggest annual fundraiser for the cub, whose primary focus is literacy.
“We have 27 members now, and each one has worked really, really hard. we have as our raffle prize chair says, ‘tons’ of prizes.” In fact, Prestigiacomo said each of the players in Saturday’s tournament would receive one door prize due to the “phenomenal” number of prizes donated by sponsors throughout the Copperas Cove, Killeen and Lampasas communities.
The golfers’ registration fee included breakfast, lunch, half cart, green fees, two mulligans, a move-up hole, and a door prize ticket. Golfers also had the chance to purchase tickets for drawings for numerous prizes donated by local businesses.
“Three member families in our club underwrote our lunch with C&H Hawaiian Grill. We were lucky to get the generosity of our members,” said Prestigiacomo. “We have other fundraiser, but this our main one.”
This year’s higher numbers for the tournament are tied to the increased number of members in the club, which now has 27 members, said Prestigiacomo, who said the club now has its own 501c3 foundation.
“It took a long time coming, but we were a very small club for a long time. we finally got more members in our club. Altrusa likes a minimum of 20, we were like 19, 20, 19, 20. We have a lot of local people who have retired that have come in, but we also have a lot of working people two.” Prestigiacomo said the club meets at noon on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at Giovanni’s, and anyone is welcome to visit and see what they are about. Their signature purpose is promoting literacy by giving a book to every Head Start and 1-3 grade student in Copperas Cove.
The club members will not stop their momentum after Saturday’s tournament as they prepare to bring books, donated by club members, to Head Start students for Make a Difference Day.
Club president Cindy Hutcherson said the group has expanded its scope to help the community in addition to promoting literacy. For example, she said they are also gearing up for their annual SOS – Support Our Students on November 18.
“We will be at Walmart that day, when we will accept donations of socks, underwear, jackets, coats, sweatshirts for students, with the weather changing. Any cash donations will get turned into Walmart gift cards,” said Hutcherson. “All donations will go to Communities In Schools here in Copperas Cove.”
The club also crocheted 195 purple baby hats which were given to Darnall Army Community Hospital and the hats have been given to newborns as part of shaken baby awareness month during October. Additionally, the club is also preparing for making 25 gift bags for single moms who are residents of the city’s housing authority homes.
“Inez Faison chooses 25 single working moms and each member brings 25 of a like item and we put them together into gift baskets. That way, mom gets a gift, too,” said Hutcherson.
“We try to do as much as we can and spread its as far as we can, from infants to senior adults. There are so many different needs in our community,” added Prestigiacomo.