HARROD, Ohio (WLIO) -Â The Lima community hit the greens Saturday for a good cause during the second annual Lima Masters Golf Outing.
The charity event raises money to support underfunded youth sports programs across the region. Last year alone, the outing brought in more than $25,000, with all proceeds going directly back into the community.
Many of this year’s participants were former student-athletes themselves, making the outing a chance to reconnect with teammates, see familiar faces, and enjoy a day of friendly competition while giving back to the next generation of players.
"Everyone here either knew each other through sports or were friends with each other in school, playing sports. And there's people that you may not have seen for 20-30 years, but you know the names. Then you see them in person, and it brings everyone together, and then you feel that camaraderie, where you want to help the youth sports coming up, so they can have the same experiences that we had. So being able to branch out this year and help even more organizations than we did last year is really, really cool," said Doug Wade, PGA Professional.
"The theme for the entire group is friendship. I coached for many years, and I played for many years, and I agree that the greatest gift that an athlete will receive from their experience is friendship. You can go and ask athletes and coaches, and people who have been involved the game for a long time, what do they remember most? What did they learn? What gift did they get from athletics? All of them will tell you friendship. And so you've got a group of friends here that are actually raising money for a good cause," said Bob Seggerson, honorary starter for the event.
If you're interested in learning more about the 4 The Friendship nonprofit organization, you can visit their website.
