
Photo: Mac Engel / Fort Worth Star-Telegram
While the Fort Worth, Texas club won’t be able to host spectators for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, a few homes with obstructed views are erecting tents—and even bleachers—to allow limited viewing. One neighbor expects to raise at least $10,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County.
When the PGA Tour announced that it would return to play with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, the decision was made to not allow fans on the property, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. That included members of the club.
There are a few select spots where a few fans can watch a fraction of a fraction of obstructed view golf to be played at Colonial, throw a party and in the process help out one element of society that is hurting these days, the Star-Telegram reported. There are three different homes that have erected their own party tents to watch whatever golf they can.
Two of the tents are across the street from the course, while the other is located directly to the side of the tee box at No. 16, the Star-Telegram reported. The owner of that home actually had a small temporary stand built.
Not to be lost in this limited seating capacity, one of the three tents and parties is built not so much to watch golf but to generate money, the Star-Telegram reported. One of the parties, whose founder asked to remain anonymous, is charging admission with the pledge that all of the proceeds will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County. He expects that it will be a minimum $10,000 donation.
It’s a small way to address a part of Fort Worth’s annual PGA Tour event that has taken away due to COVID-19, the Star-Telegram reported. This event typically raises in excess of $10 million for local charities. The 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge won’t come close to that figure.
Because of the slew of COVID-19 related closures, organizations that rely on annual donations are doing virtually anything to maintain their level of giving for families in need, the Star-Telegram reported.
“We basically run six months behind everyone else; people have to feel comfortable with their finances before they give,” said Daphne Barlow Stigliano, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County.
The Boys & Girls Clubs have had to postpone multiple events that are big fundraisers for their annual budgets, the Star-Telegram reported. Even when they do hold their events again, they are not expecting to generate the same levels of donations.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, their clubs were closed. Now that they are starting to reopen, they are having to spend more just to produce less, the Star-Telegram reported. They have turned their buses into mobile food delivery units.
To give you some idea of what money does for these types of organizations, Barlow Stigliano said $10,000 will fund a mobile unit’s route for the entire summer, the Star-Telegram reported. That means one bus will be able to provide food to families in need at four different locations for the next three months.
The 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge has been forced to be a made-for-TV event, and in the process eliminated the festive party tent element of the tournament, and dramatically affected the amount of money raised for charities, the Star-Telegram reported. Back outside the country club, the few homeowners who have been able to create their own version of party tents, to see what little can be seen, are fortunately seeing the much larger picture.
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