The NYS Forum raises more than $5,000 at 2023 Spring Charity Golf Outing

More than one hundred golfers participated in 18 holes of scramble golf at the Fairways of Halfmoon, raising funds for the South End Children’s Cafe.

The NYS Forum hosted its second Annual Spring Charity Golf Outing in Mechanicville, NY. on Friday, May 5. A total of $5,400 was raised in support of the South End Children’s Café, a great local charity established to provide food, groceries, mental health support and academic support services to children and families in Albany’s South End and beyond.

Teams participated in the afternoon event on a dry and cloudy day at the fantastic Fairways of Halfmoon. The golf scramble included morning refreshments at registration sponsored by Red Hat, lunch at the turn sponsored by SoftEd, a post-golf reception sponsored by SHI, 50/50 raffle, and various contests for all players with prizes generously donated by sponsors.

Tournament participants enjoyed a variety of competitions in addition to 18 holes of scramble golf tournament play. Activities included a Hank Hudson Bunker Bonanza Challenge sponsored by Nagarro, men’s and women’s longest drive, closest to the line, and closest to pin competitions, a hole-in-one opportunity for a chance to win $5000, and the Texas Roadhouse Hole in One Challenge. Players donated for a chance to win a Free Steak Dinner for a Year. If players landed their ball on the green, they won a free entrée to Texas Roadhouse. If players missed the green, they still walked away with a Free Appetizer for their next visit. 100% of the proceeds were returned to the Forum to be donated to the South End Children’s Cafe. A beverage cart made the rounds throughout the day, sponsored by Experis, and player gift bags were provided to all players. Contents of the bag were golf gear related donations made by CBTS, Teksystems, Fortinet, Splunk, Spruce, Red Hat, and Absolute Software. The tournament was also made possible by the support of Hole Sponsors; Fran Reiter (The NYS Forum), Red Hat, Absolute Software, PruTech, Teksystems, QnA Tech, and Nutanix.

Following the 18 holes, players gathered in the Fairways of Halfmoon Banquet Hall where they enjoyed a buffet meal, and some time for networking. NYS Forum Executive Director, Fran Reiter welcomed all attendees and addressed the crowd on the day’s events.

Also in attendance were Anna Schupack & Ittai Rosales of the South End Children’s Café who provided an overview of the Foundation. The Forum was thrilled to be able to present them with a ceremonial check for $5400.

Maureen McHugh (Red Hat) who chaired the golf committee, gave out awards to the golf contest winners. Awards were given to Golfers Joe Gagnon, Chris LaPointe (OMIG), Scott Lauer (OMIG), and Joe Schultz, for the best foursome of the day, winning a round of golf for 4 at the Fairways of Halfmoon with a score of 62. James Nicol (Deloitte) and Mary Beth Tice (ITS) had the longest drives of the tournament, while Tom Suraci (Info-Tech Research Group) and Barb Barfield (OSC) got the ball closest to the pin. Winners of Closest to the Line were Adam Muhs (OGS) and Maureen McHugh (Red Hat). The winner of the “Meet with Fran” Raffle was Jeremy Annese (Cisco), and multiple winners of the Hank Hudson Bunker Challenge. Special thanks go to 50/50 Raffle winner Randy Stevens (Dell) who was extremely gracious and donated the winning amount back to the South End Children’s Cafe.

A Sincere Thank You to all golfers, sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who helped make the NYS Forum’s Spring Charity Golf Outing such a huge success. A special thank you to Maureen McHugh and her Event Committee for their hard work in planning and creating excitement around this fun event. The time you committed made our effort successful in supporting this worthwhile cause. We couldn’t have done it without you. Final thank you to the staff of the fabulous Fairways of Halfmoon and its spectacular conditions. The Forum is already looking forward to next year’s event!

About The South End Children’s Café:

The mission of the South End Children's Cafe is to impact food security, address food equality and food justice, enhance academic success and positively influence the physical and mental health of children by offering free, healthy meals along with homework help, academic enrichment, mentoring, exercise, and the arts.

For more information, please visit South End Children's Cafe (southendchildrenscafe.org)

To view all photos taken from the event, Click Here