Kimberly Straehla, Executive Director of The Haven for Children, Inc., spoke at the awards ceremony following the Haven Challenge Golf Tournament on March 27, 2010.  Here’s what she had to say.

“April is National Child Abuse Prevention month.  We all think of abuse as something that happens in large cities and not something that happens in our own backyard.  The Haven serves infants, children and adolescents from our area that are all victims of child abuse and neglect – unfortunately the need for our services does not go away.  Join us in the fight against child abuse!"

Several Orlando Magic dancers were on hand to help players find their way to registration and the practice range.  We had 148 golfers participate on a beautiful spring afternoon and evening at Suntree Country Club. We had a record 11 corporate teams participate and over 70 sponsors support our cause. Orlando Magic Ambassadors Bo Outlaw and Nick Anderson spent the day on the course and then emceed the evening awards presentation and auction of Magic memorabilia. The highlight of the day came when Charlie Snell made a hole-in-one on hole #2 and won a 2010 Buick LaCrosse donated by Lane Buick-GMC of Melbourne.  Charlie’s playing partners were John Abernathy, Bob Cook and Bob Stewart.

Prizes were awarded in the Corporate, Open and Ladies’ divisions.  The Harris Corporation team of Dan Pearson, Dick Anderson, Don Montgomery, and Chuck Zahm won first place and took home the Swarovski Trophy for another year.  Viera Company team came in second with Steve Johnson, Joseph Duda, Nick Lindheim, and Dave Tomczak playing.  Open Flight winners were:  first place—Chris Stellato, Joe Hankins, Justin Parsons & Greg Riddlehoover; second place—Jeff Piersall, Tyson Misleh, Scott Widerman, & Steve Smith.  Ladies’ division winners were:  first place—Jeanette Gibbons, Pansy Brown, Peggy Shoemaker, and Cisco Van Dyck; second place—Millie Young, Anne Murphy, Joyce Amarel, and Barbara Mahoney.  Longest drive winners were Cisco Van Dyck and Nick Lindheim.  Closest to the pin winners were Jeanette Gibbons and Michael Paller.

The golf tournament is the only fundraiser the Board of Directors of The Haven has each year.  It is an all-volunteer effort so costs are kept to a minimum.  All proceeds go to help the 31 kids who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect.  With the ongoing support of sponsors, players and community, we can continue to make a difference one child at a time!

We would like to thank our generous sponsors for their donations and underwriting of this event.  Major sponsors included Starwood Vacation Ownership, Matthew Development LLC, Craig Technologies, Harris Foundation, Sorensen Office Solutions, Publix Super Market Charities, Mike Sapourn/Dave Dyer/Dave LaRue, The Highland Mint, Jim Nance, LiveTV and Lane Buick-GMC.  Click here to see the complete sponsor listing.

We would like to thank all the players who signed up to play this year.  For those of you who didn’t get to play because we sold out, we apologize and hope you sign your team up early next year.  We also would like to thank all our volunteers for doing an outstanding job.  A special thank you to the Orlando Magic for their participation and support!