LAMORINDA WEEKLY | MCC Senior Men's Golf Association raises over $48K for food bank


2017 Turkey Shoot winning golf team, from left: Craig Oden, Kathy Reaves, Darlene Martel, Dan Alipaz and Dennis Martel. Photo Gary Irwin

The fifth annual Turkey Shoot charity golf tournament held on Oct. 30 at the Moraga Country Club raised more than $48,000 to benefit the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. This amount is about a 14 percent increase over the $42,800 raised by this event in 2016, and the total amount raised for the Food Bank over the five years is almost $168,000. It was hosted by the Senior Men's Golf Association, and was led by originator and chairman Doug Brown and his committee, and assisted by many SMGA members, Director of Golf Jason Woodworth, spouses, and friends.

The winners of the golf tournament were the team of Darlene and Dennis Martel, Dan Alipaz, Craig Oden, and Kathy Reaves, who each received gift cards for a turkey. A new Audi sedan, provided by Concord Audi, was displayed on the seventh tee as the prize for anyone making a hole-in-one, but it went unclaimed.

The 100 participating men and women golfers enjoyed coffee and freshly-baked pastries at morning registration, a box lunch, an open bar, and a delicious dinner. They participated in the live and silent auctions, entered the raffle, sponsored a hole, generally underwrote the event, or just donated to the cause. MCC resident Craig Oden volunteered his skill as professional auctioneer, and he prompted a lot of spirited bidding for the live auction items and extra donations.

Food Bank Executive Director Larry Sly thanked the donors, participants, MCC staff, and organizers for their excellent work in raising so much money for the community. He remarked that the various food banks in northern California had just completed a "mutual aid" agreement this year, just in time for the Food Bank to provide backup food relief for victims of the recent Napa/Sonoma and other disastrous fires. The Food Bank has grown from 36,000 pounds of food distributed in their first year to more than 20 million pounds of food distributed last year, of which about half was fresh produce. Sly is active in state and national food banking organizations, and he received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from Sustainable Contra Costa.