{"id":1123,"date":"2014-10-02T14:17:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T19:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wordpress\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2014-10-02T14:24:09","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T19:24:09","slug":"big-brothers-big-sisters-raises-over-98000-at-annual-golf-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=1123","title":{"rendered":"Big Brothers Big Sisters Raises over $98,000 at Annual Golf Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second annual John Walson, Jr. Memorial Open raises big\u00a0 funds for agency\u2019s mentoring programs and pays tribute to Walson, Service Electric\u2019s late President and CEO
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Allentown, PA \u2014 October 2, 2014<\/span> \u2014 On September 22, 100 golfers hit the fairways to raiseover $98,000 in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley\u2019s mentoring programs at the John Walson, Jr. Memorial Open 2014. For the first year, the tournament was held at Lehigh Country Club. Service Electric Cable TV & Communications served as the event\u2019s Presenting Sponsor, and B. Braun Medical, Diefenderfer Electrical Contractors and Technology Solutions, PPL EnergyPlus and Viamedia joined as the event\u2019s other top sponsors.<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s events included a scramble-style golf tournament, specially catered meals, a cocktail reception, awards for top participants, and silent and live auctions. In addition, one participant, Doug Marcinin of Valley National Financial Advisors, won a golden ticket to the Landis Cup and will compete for $1 million on Veteran\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Service Electric TV2 Sports also covered the event, featuring tournament play and interviews with major corporate sponsors.<\/p>\n

After the passing of Service Electric Cable TV President and CEO John Walson, Jr. in August 2012, Big Brothers Big Sisters renamed its annual golf event to the John Walson, Jr. Memorial Open to honor his legacy. He was among the organization\u2019s largest benefactors for over 35 years and frequently played in its charity golf tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited that the John Walson, Jr. Memorial Open was a resounding success again this year,\u201d said CEO Susan Bartels. \u201cFor our first year holding the tournament at a new venue [Lehigh Country Club], everything ran very smoothly. Many sponsors, participants and volunteers joined us to not only pay tribute to Mr. Walson\u2019s legacy, but also to spread awareness for and raise needed funding to expand our mentoring programs in Lehigh and Northampton Counties.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, over ten volunteers from B. Braun Medical were on hand through the United Way\u2019s Day of Caring to officiate the tournament\u2019s many contests, including hole-in-one, longest drive, longest putt, and closest-to-the-pin competitions.<\/p>\n

All proceeds from the tournament will directly support Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley\u2019s goal of serving 380 children in one-to-one mentoring relationships in its current fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\"Left<\/a>
Left Photo: Jim Krupka, Sacred Heart Regional School; John Nespoli, Sacred Heart Hospital; Frank Heston, First Niagara Bank; and Rev. John Gibbons, Sacred Heart Church
Middle Photo: Rob Gabbard, Terry Crupi, Don Loughney, Jeffrey Bell, all of PPL EnergyPlus
Right Photo: Mike Connelly, Brenton Earle, Andres Tavares, Bryan Trible, all of B. Braun Medical, Inc.
Click\u00a0on the photo to enlarge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alex Dapkewicz, Marketing & Development Manager<\/p>\n

adapkewicz@bbbslv.org<\/a><\/p>\n

610-391-1827 x102<\/a><\/p>\n

About Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 1970, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation\u2019s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, holds itself accountable for children in its program to achieve measurable outcomes, such as educational success; avoidance of risky behaviors; and higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships. Partnering with parents\/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children (\u201cLittles\u201d) with qualified, trained, and screened volunteers (\u201cBigs\u201d) and monitors and supports these one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley, a United Way Partner Agency, served 327 Lehigh and Northampton County children in one-to-one mentoring relationships.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children facing adversity, often those of single or low-income households or families where a parent is incarcerated or serving in the military, with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. This mission has been the cornerstone of the organization\u2019s 100-year history. The organization is engaged in a nationwide search to reunite with alumni mentors, mentees, donors, and family, staff and board members. Learn how you can volunteer or donate\u2014visit www.bbbslv.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alex Dapkewicz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marketing & Development Manager<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n

878 Minesite Road<\/p>\n

Allentown, PA 18103<\/p>\n

Tel:<\/strong> 610-391-1827 x102<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Fax:<\/strong> 610-391-9192<\/a><\/p>\n

www.bbbslv.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Second annual John Walson, Jr. Memorial Open raises big\u00a0 funds for agency\u2019s mentoring programs and pays tribute to Walson, Service Electric\u2019s late President and CEO Allentown, PA \u2014 October 2, … Continue reading Big Brothers Big Sisters Raises over $98,000 at Annual Golf Tournament<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482,457],"tags":[552,553,76,489,2,481],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2","category-the-valley-cares","tag-big-brothers","tag-big-sisters","tag-fundraiser","tag-golf","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-press-release"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BBBS_GOLF.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}