Young Golf Enthusiasts Drive for School Supplies
Young Golfers Care raises funds for the Foundation's GIVE BACKpacks campaign
The GIVE BACKpacks campaign received $2,567 from a new source in 2020: Young Golfers Care (YGC).
"YGC is a nonprofit organization consisting mainly of high school and collegiate golfers who aim to share and teach the game of golf to underprivileged students," said YGC President and Founder Alyssa Wang. "Since golf [can be an] expensive sport that lacks player diversity, YGC combats this issue with golf clinics and clubs free-of-charge... There are currently 42 members from 13 high schools."
YGC has helped at golf clinics for injured veterans. Since golf combines both mental and physical strength, it can be helpful with injury rehabilitation. However, YGC shifted their focus when COVID-19 started affecting its community.
"During the pandemic, we have prioritized helping children struggling with mental health as they have been hit especially hard by the isolation and the subsequent increased social media use of quarantine," explained Wang.
Wang explained that YGC was especially keen to find a way to direclty help children during the pandemic.
"Although there has been a lot of coverage in the media about how the pandemic is affecting adults (e.g. loss of job opportunities, difficulty navigating online applications like zoom, etc)," said Wang, "we, as kids, do not believe there is enough awareness about [how] children have uniquely suffered from this pandemic."
Fortunately, Wang and YGC came across the Montgomery County Educational Foundation's (Foundation) GIVE BACKpacks campaign in the Montgomery County newsletter.
"We decided to host fundraising golf clinics at Top Golf Germantown," said Wang, "where anyone was invited to join us and donate. We are proud to say that 100% of our proceeds went to the GIVE BACKpacks campaign."
GIVE BACKpacks typically distributes more than 18,000 backpacks filled with basic school supplies at the start of each school year. During the pandemic, the number of kits distributed more than 26,000 as the Foundation sought to help students navigate remote learning. This increase would not have been possible without generous donations like the one from YGC.
"We are so grateful to be able to contribute to the GIVE BACKpacks campaign," said Wang. "We think it's especially important for children to support other children and develop the qualities of empathy and kindness that are really needed during a chaotic time like this."
Check out the images below (courtesy of Yi Liu) from the Top Golf fundraising event.
The Foundation shares its wholehearted thanks with YGC!
Find out more about the GIVE BACKpacks campaign and how to donate to it here.