CULLMAN, Ala. – Brooks’ Place Child Advocacy Center on Monday held its annual charity golf tournament at Terri Pines. One-hundred golfers in 25 four-man scramble teams competed to help raise funds for the nonprofit.
The golf tournament is the primary fundraiser for the center’s daily needs such as cleaning products, art supplies, paper products, shampoo, diapers, snacks, etc., which are not covered by grant funding.
Brooks’ Place receives grant money from the Alabama Department of Economic Affairs (ADECA). In 2021, its funding was cut 8-10%; this year it was cut by 12%, according to Executive Director Gail Swafford, who said, “The ADECA grant is our main funding, so when they cut, that just means our overall budget is cut by that much.”
As yet unable to provide an exact total raised at this year’s tournament, Swafford said she thinks the amount should exceed the $19,000 raised last year.
She commended organizer and Brooks’ Place Forensic Interviewer Specialist Blakely Hopper.
“Blakely Hopper coordinates the tournament every year and has done so for the past 10 years. She does an incredible job!” exclaimed Swafford. “This tournament would not be a success without Blakely, our dedicated staff and Brooks’ Place board members.”
Golfers had a chance to win YETI coolers, a gas grill and a flat-screen TV, among other prizes. The hole-in-one prize was a $15,000 building credit from COR Building Products. The cost to play was $150 per person or $600 per team and $150 to be a hole sponsor. Sponsors included Cullman Savings Bank, Apel Steel, Pepsi, COR Building Products, Tri-County Mobile X-Ray, Wal-Mart Distribution Center, Freddie Day Catering and Cullman Electric Cooperative.
The golf tournament and other fundraising events are essential to Brooks’ Place’s mission: “A community working together to nurture hope and healing in the lives of children and families impacted by child sexual abuse.”
Brooks’ Place is a “calm, homelike environment for all child victims and their non-offending family members.” It is unique as the only nonprofit agency in Cullman that provides services to child victims of abuse from the initial outcry of abuse to the legal disposition of the case or until the child and family no longer need services. All of the agency’s services are provided at no cost to the family.
For more information about Brooks’ Place, visit www.cullmancac.com.
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