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Teeing off in virtual golf tourney at Cardinal helps send Easter Seals kids to camp

Golfers can purchase limited Charity Golf Challenge e-voucher for $95 for a round with cart at the course near Newmarket
photo credit Bradford Times (3)
Brent Morning

This would have been the eighth year for the We Care Charity Golf Challenge, hosted by Brent Morning and friends — if the surge in COVID-19 cases hadn’t shut down golf courses and in-person fundraising events.

It marks the second year that the pandemic has forced cancellations, and the second year that Morning has had to get creative, to provide an online alternative.

Morning is committed to the cause. We Care (formerly Friends of We Care) is an organization whose membership is comprised of manufacturers, distributors, and operators involved in the hospitality and food service sectors. The goal of We Care is to raise funds to send kids with disabilities to camp, ensuring they have opportunities to enjoy a camping experience and achieve their full potential.

Since it was launched in 1983, We Care has raised over $25.5 million, which has translated into 138,714 ‘camp days’ for kids.

Of that total, $72,000 has come from Morning’s Charity Golf Challenge, typically held at Cardinal Golf Club's Kettle Creek course on Newmarket's border in King Township.

Morning has been involved in fundraising for Easter Seals for decades, not only as an organizer and participant in events like the golf challenge but as an Easter Seals “Timmy.”

Morning, who has cerebral palsy, has been a participant in the Skate for Easter Seals Kids at Maple Leaf Gardens, where he first met hockey great Bobby Orr and has participated in numerous other charity fundraisers.

Launching a charity golf challenge to raise funds for We Care “was basically a no-brainer for me,” he says; his engagement grows out of his personal experience. “I went to (Easter Seals) camp when I was eight or nine years old.”

Morning spent 13 days at an Easter Seals camp back in the 1970s, and despite feeling homesick, he says, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.”

“I’m personally aware of the value of camp, although I only went once. You meet people. I still remember the names of my counsellors,” he adds; as proof, he reels them off: Simon from P.E.I. and Ron from Newmarket.

It’s an experience he wants to ensure will continue to be offered to kids - and even now, when Easter Seals camps have gone ‘virtual’ during the pandemic, “there’s still a need for funding,” he says.

That’s why Morning has partnered with Cardinal Golf Course this year to offer a different kind of Charity Challenge fundraiser, adapted to the pressure of pandemic closures.

Instead of a one-day event, golfers can purchase vouchers online at www.charitygolfchallenge.ca for future rounds of golf at Cardinal’s east or west courses.

The vouchers cost only $95 each, and include use of a cart, with a portion of the fee going to We Care, to support sending kids to camp. Only 152 of the e-vouchers are available.

Purchasers will be able to use their vouchers any time during the week, and after noon on weekends and holidays, by booking a tee time at Cardinal. Those who buy a voucher by July 1 will be entered into a draw for a foursome on the east course.

Golfers are also invited to share photos, once they are out golfing, by emailing [email protected].

Cardinal was on board from the start, Morning said, as soon as the idea was floated. “It wasn’t tough at all. I contacted Cardinal, I think it was November, and said I have this idea.”

With the help of Cardinal, We Care, and friends like Joe Mcdonald of Schomberg Technologies, the website was built to offer the e-voucher program.

“It took a couple of months,” he noted, but has been tested and was ready to go as soon as golf courses reopened this weekend. “One flip of the switch, and then it’s up and running.”

If all 152 vouchers are sold, the challenge should raise as much as $5,000 for We Care, thanks to support from sponsors that include Rob Payne of Edward Jones Financial, Hospall Private Homecare, John’s No Frills in Nobleton, James Morning & Son Ltd., Motive Media, and Priestly Demolition.

To sponsor the challenge or donate, visit the website and click on Donate to We Care, entering ‘2021 We Care Charity Golf Challenge’ in the credit line.

Morning hopes that hole sponsors from previous years will also get on board, and contribute an equivalent amount to support the new type of event – and that, if all goes well, the new format could become a template for successful fundraising by others looking for a way to raise money for a good cause.

Morning has never taken courses in event planning or fundraising, but his life experiences have given him a real-life understanding not only of the value of the money raised but the importance of the programs that money supports. His participation over the decades has also helped him build connections with people like Easter Seals CEO and president Kevin Collins, and former Olympian Brian Stemmle.

Morning was recently recognized by We Care for his fundraising and awareness-raising efforts. He was presented with the prestigious Gary Wright Humanitarian Award for 2020, but he shrugs off the recognition.

“It’s not why I do things,” he said, but does it to keep busy, to share, and because “this is my life. This is how I’ve lived it, I’ve experienced it.”

Credit should go to everyone involved, he insists. “We Care is an established organization,” he said. “It’s not about I or me, it’s about We. We are a team.”

Morning is convinced that online fundraisers have the potential for “phenomenal” success, especially in these difficult times.

“Nobody knows how long this is going to continue,” he said. “I’m prepared to do this forever – at least until things get back to normal, and we can all get together on the golf club, at a tournament.

“You don’t know what you can do until you do it.”

It’s a lesson he learned from Bobby Orr, who once told him, “You just keep doing what you’re doing – help the kids, help the cause!”

Thirty-five years after they first met on the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens, he and Orr still keep in touch.

“You learn to deal with everything. I’ve learned something from everybody I’ve met,” Morning says - not only on the golf course but in life.

Tiana Rodrigue, executive director of We Care, says that despite the pandemic, industry support for the charity has remained strong.

“It’s been very humbling to see that despite the extremely difficult times that many of our supporters in the food service sector have faced, they hold We Care and support for the kids to heart,” Rodrigue says. “We had a few companies take a pause on their membership, but most have come back, which has far surpassed our expectations for this year.”

As the pandemic continues, online fundraising has become “extremely important,” she said. “It’s the only way we’re raising money at the moment since restrictions over the past year have prohibited many in-person events.”

With the exception of a few drive-in events, everything is virtual, including the annual gala, as We Care strives to keep its members connected and engaged, and waits for the day when pandemic restrictions are lifted – “so that when things go back to ‘normal’ we can rekindle our fundraising activities at full speed.”

She is enthusiastic about Morning’s initiative for the golf challenge, and the ongoing support of Cardinal GCC.

“It’s great,” Rodrigue said. “Brent has lots of community support, and it’s really nice to see him pivot to find alternative ways to support the kids.”

As for Cardinal, “They’ve been a longtime supporter of some of our other golf events, and we’ve developed a great relationship with their team. It’s great to see that they’re also supporting and honouring longtime tournaments by accommodating changes to make them possible.”


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Miriam King

About the Author: Miriam King

Miriam King is a journalist and photographer with Bradford Today, covering news and events in Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil.
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