Golf tourney benefits Christian school

Jeff VanBlaricum watches his putt in the Sonrise Christian School golf tourney.

The first annual golf tournament to benefit Sonrise Christian School basked in perfect fall weather -- and featured some good golf.

The tournament was held Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Glaze Meadow Course at Black Butte Ranch. The tournament netted approximately $7,000.

The winning team was Sisters Landscaping -- Mike and Pat Jones and Dan Lynch. Todd Williams scored a hole-in-one on Number 8 and won a $250 pro- shop gift certificate for his effort.

Principal Dan Cole was enthusiastic in his assessment.

"It was a great day," he said. "The weather was perfect, and we had 16 teams. It went very smoothly. The low team score in the best-ball tournament was 58 ­ that's 14 under par.

"Someone even had a hole-in-one. Carla did a great job of putting it together."

Carla Schneider is the school board member whose responsibility is development.

"It was very successful for the first year -- we will be able to build a good foundation," she said.

The proceeds go toward a scholarship fund to assist families with the cost of private school tuition.

"The money issue really is critical for some and having these funds available is a tremendous blessing for these families who want their children educated at Sonrise," Schneider said.

"Everybody worked so hard. Ken Ruettgers, Laurie Francis, Terry Denzer, and Kim Bell chaired committees. Multnomah Publishers was the tournament sponsor, but we also had 18 hole sponsors and five green sponsors -- that's 23 businesses from the community who supported and helped make it a success."