The Joe LeBlanc Food Pantry will be hosting their Fourth Annual Drive Out Hunger Golf Tournament this Saturday at the Pine Hills Country Club. This is just one of the annual fundraising events that the food pantry puts on in order to get the support required to keep serving the community of Webster Parish.
“Any funds raised from the tournament go into our operational budget which helps us purchase the food that we give out at distribution. It goes right back into the community to help the people that we serve. Besides grants and private donations, we have this big fundraiser every year to get the funds we need, so it’s pretty important to make sure that it’s successful,” said Jessica Lewis, Director at Joe LeBlanc Food Pantry.
The entry fee will cover both breakfast and lunch for those competing, and it will be catered by Little’s Rod and Black Pot this year.
The title sponsor for the event is Paul Gray International Ministries.
Team registration is $150 for a two-person team and tee time is at 8 a.m. on August 24. They will be accepting registrations until the tournament begins.
If they have 15 teams or more they will double-flight the tournament, and there will be a cash payout for each flight. The cash payout is $300 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for third.
“We just hope to provide a fun clean tournament for the guys who are coming out to support us,” said Lewis.
Sharing why fundraisers like this are so important for the food pantry, Lewis said, “We completely depend on the communities financial support to be able to do what we’re doing, so if they don’t come out and support we can’t keep fighting hunger in Webster Parish. We have clients from every single city in Webster Parish that come to us and depend on us for monthly food assistance,” said Lewis,
“I believe hunger affects more than just an empty belly. When you have a person, or especially child, who goes hungry, you’re looking at how they perform at school, the way they perform at work, the way they care for the family. So when you meet that need, you’re not just filling their stomachs, you’re doing so much more than that.”