Alpha Tau Chapter at Western Illinois University held their 17th Annual Tee-Off golf event where they sold out all 15 team slots and raised approximately $17,800.
Brother James Schmitt, VNR-Activities of Alpha Tau Chapter, helped organize this year’s event.
“I heard a lot of great feedback from teams about how this was one of the most enjoyable golf outings that they've been to. So overall, this year was a huge success, in my opinion,” Brother Schmitt said. The chapter sold out their 15 team slots prior to the event showing the chapter’s success in promoting it. Anyone in the community was invited to attend, several of whom were alumni, friends and family. Chapter brothers were asked to hang up flyers around the campus and community and posted on social media. What Brother Schmitt believes really brought up attendance was personally reaching out to people. He said he made several phone calls, emails, and text messages to help grow the number of teams.
“I think it tells people that we want them there,” he said. “And I feel like people know about these events, but if you don't actively promote them on a weekly basis, people are going to just forget about them.”
Brother Schmitt said he also believes that having sponsorships from local businesses also boosted their event attendance. He said that businesses will tell customers about the event they are sponsoring, or will post about it on their social media, which can lead to further community interest in AGR chapter events.
The chapter gathered funds through a variety of avenues with sponsorship packages to local business including a Green Sponsorship for $100 and a Gold Sponsorship for $150, a raffle for a Blackstone grill and a 1022 Ruger gun raffle, and fees for teams and individuals to participate. They also sold mulligans for those needing an extra swing or two. Brother Schmitt said the nearly $18,000 raised will be distributed to several philanthropies of their choosing with amounts being set based on need. As of April 28, those charities had not been decided, but in the past the chapter has supported local food pantries, the local YMCA, first responders, churches and other deserving causes.
Even though raising money for philanthropy is always exciting, Brother Schmitt said his favorite part of the day was seeing everyone gathered in the club house after their game. Brothers, community members, family and friends gathered around to hear who the winners were of the competitions, including Longest Drive, Longest Putt and Closest to the Pin, as well as the raffle winners and the overall winner of the tournament.
“It kind of just turns into a nice little social hour afterwards, everyone's talking. More alumni are showing up because they want to hang out with everybody at the clubhouse.”
By the end of the event, approximately 130-140 people were in attendance for the event. Brother Schmitt said this year’s and last year’s tee-offs were two of the biggest golf events Alpha Tau Chapter has had.
