By SCOTT D. JOHNSTON
A golfing party teed off in Ocean Shores Sunday morning, June, 3, with the purpose of honoring veterans and benefitting the Puget Sound Fisher House, the non-profit operation that offers a “home away from home” for families of veterans and active duty military personnel who are receiving care at the Veterans Administration’s Health Care System in Seattle.
The event at Ocean Shores Golf Course was a four-person team scramble format. The $70 entry fee covered ample opportunities to spend a little extra to help both the cause and individual teams’ outcomes. PGA players Greg Carter, John Groshell, Roy Ekersley, and Ronnie Espedal, Jr., and Grays Harbor College team stars Justin Cox and Ronnie Espedal III were available in a “ringers auction.” Various side contests are also planned and local businesses have donated additional prizes.
The event was put together by Ocean Shores resident Steve McCloud, an Air Force veteran who first learned about Fisher House when he was a VA patient. He subsequently served as a board member and officer of the “Friends of VA Puget Sound Fisher House,” a non-profit that supports the effort.
He retired from his public accounting firm in Kent 10 years ago and said doing some sort of benefit event for Fisher House is something he has “been thinking about it quite some time.” He explained that fellow linksmen in a Thursday morning senior men’s 9-hole league at the local links have stepped up to help put the event together. He said the big sponsors who have joined in are the local Eagles and Elks organizations.
McCloud’s number one goal is simply “to honor veterans.” To that end, and to raise more funds, he has been successfully selling hole sponsorships that will bear the names of vets either chosen by the sponsors or from a list of Vietnam POWs and others. All 18 holes already have multiple sponsors. Those interested in becoming sponsors should call either the Ocean Shores or Highland golf course.
Beyond that, the goals are to raise funds and awareness for the Fisher House in Seattle. He explained that the overall program began in 1990 and consists of more than 60 houses located near VA hospitals and military installations across the country and in Europe, serving more than 19,000 military families per year. McCloud noted that the Puget Sound Fisher House in Seattle has served more than 6,650 families, including more than 140 from Grays Harbor, with over 55,000 guest nights, since it opened in 2008.
McCloud said he wants to help spread the word about the support the Fisher House offers to military families. “I want people to know if they have a loved one at a VA hospital, there’s a place for them to stay, at no charge, for as long as they’re there.”
More information about Fisher House is available at www.fisherhouse.org and www.fisherhousvaps.org.
