The United Way of Crookston’s annual Hugo’s/United Way Golf Tourney planned for Thursday, June 23, at the Minakwa Golf Course has been canceled. Due to weather delays, a host of unforeseen circumstances, and a short planning time, the United Way announced that they are unable to go forward with the event.
United Way of Crookston Executive Director Libby Boucher reported that after having to cancel the event for the past two years due to COVID, she and the United Way of Crookston were trying to bring the event back bigger and better than ever before. But, the heavy rains and flooding that occurred this spring caused many delays for the organizers, making them unable to complete the event on time. “We’ve always had this huge tournament; a lot of planning goes into it,” United Way Executive Director Libby Boucher explained. “We didn’t have the time. Weather delays caused everyone’s schedule to shift by weeks, so we sat down today and thought, “We’re just not ready to pull off this tournament,” she added. Boucher reported that the event has been in the planning for months to help them reach their fundraising goal of $150,000 and that the event may have pushed them over the goal as they are currently about $3,000 away from reaching their goal. However, Boucher and United Way believe that the following fundraisers they have will help them reach their goal and promise that next year, the Tournament will be bigger and better in 2023.
However, the United Way still has plans to reach their fundraiser goal for the summer, with a Golf Ball Drop scheduled during Ox Cart Days in August. While they haven’t decided what day they will have their fundraiser on yet (though they are looking to have it set for Wednesday), Libby Boucher believes that it will be one they can pull together in a much shorter period of time. For the event, they will sell tickets to people and have them try and drop numbered golf balls from a height onto a green and give prizes to three people who can get the closest to the target or golf hole. The prizes are those that would have been given away at the golf tournament, including a “wheelbarrow of fun” and many other prizes. After the Golf Ball Drop, the United Way has reported that they’ve already begun planning for other annual events later this year, like their Soup and Chili Cookoff in October, to be the kickoff for their campaign next year. “We’re already in the early planning stages of the Cookoff. That’s the kind of lee time that we like, that four to five months to plan something,” Executive Director Libby Boucher said, “Those ideas are percolating and bubbling away, and we’re coming up with hopefully some fun and really interesting things for that. Then our main campaign will start, and we’re also revamping the campaigns so those yellow packets that people love to see, there will not be as many as those going out. We’re looking at pushing more towards an online giving,” she added.
While the Tournament has been canceled, the United Way of Crookston was pleased to learn from their sponsors that they were allowed to keep the donations given to them to help them ensure that they would reach their fundraising goal of $150,000. All of the donations from the fundraising over the year go to many organizations that serve Crookston in various ways, such as Eat United, New Hope Food Shelf, PATCH, North Country Food Bank, the Salvation Army, Energy Assistance, and many others. “The money that we raise goes to organizations that serve this community. We do not send our money off somewhere and hope that we get a percentage of it back. We keep it here and make sure that we know the programs and agencies we’re funding,” Libby Boucher explained. “We go and check up on them and make sure that they are using the money that we give them the way that they said they were going to. We do keep close tabs on the money we raise and give out, and our whole thing is that we want your money that you donate to us to go where it can do the best good,” she added.
The Golf Tournament may be canceled this year, but the United Way of Crookston is still accepting donations to reach its goal of $150,000. If you want to help them reach their goal to help any of the organizations they support, you can go to www.unitedwayofcrookston.org/ and click “Donate Now” on the top right corner of the page. Stay tuned to kroxam.com, and KROX Radio on 105.7 FM and 1260 AM to stay up to date with more news from the United Way of Crookston.
