Happenings
A Look at 2006:
The VIM Pro-Am Tournament is our biggest fundraiser, and we were successful again this year, thanks to the help of at least 40 volunteers, an outstanding golf tournament committee, and the generosity of the Colleton River Plantation Club. All 32 foursomes were sold out early, and we had a waiting list as well. This years’ tournament is on September 10, 2007 at Berkeley Hall Plantation Club.
The 15th Annual Lowcountry Soup Challenge was another wonderful event—thanks to the support of Tanger Outlet Centers, Inc. and their operations staff. We made well over $10,000 on the event, and Mr. Tanger once again added a personal check to take us over that amount. Tanger has truly become a community partner to VIM!
Bear Creek Country Club held their annual event last year and raised over $28,000 for VIM! What a wonderful gift to receive at this time of the year. The members of Bear Creek never forget VIM and strive every single year to raise their own bar when it comes to fundraising for us. They are awesome!
Celebrity Golf awarded our Dental Department over $10,000 this year for our pediatric dental patients. This event is always held over Labor Day and our dental team provides much-needed volunteer help at the tournament for the entire weekend..
Temple Beth Yam A group from the temple provided gift wrappimg services at the island Barnes and Noble for donations and VIM was a beneficiary. This was a wonderful gift from Temple Beth Yam.
2006 Official VIM Christmas Ornament Nationally-known Daufuskie Island metal sculptor Chase Allen created a 2006 Christmas tree ornament with proceeds going to Volunteers in Medicine. Chase has been featured in Coastal Living, Hilton Head Monthly, and The South magazine for his unique traditionally forged iron fish sculptures as well as his unique island lifestyle. Chase’s Daufuskie Island Studio, The Iron Fish, will be featured in the May 2007 issue of Southern Living. To see more about Chase and his studio, you can check his website at www.ironfishart.com
His project for VIM was nearly 400 iron fish ornaments that the children of Daufuskie Island Elementary School decorated with paint and crayons. Each fish had the date on it and a copper hook for hanging. Chase created these ornaments as a way of thanking VIM for helping him when he was a struggling artist. His efforts raised almost $4,000 for VIM!
2006 Holiday Toy Ride Every year about 300 bikers get together for the Annual Holiday Toy Ride for Charity. The 2006 event was on Sunday, December 17, 2006 and both Deep Well and Vim were beneficiaries of this group’s generosity. The ride started at One Hot Mama’s in Bluffton and the parade rides all the way down US 278 with a police escort to the Deep Well Office where toys were delivered and then on to the Smokehouse on Pope Avenue for lunch. Thanks to the enthusiastic participants and the organizing efforts of Dave Ter Haar and Stefan Patrick , VIM received over $4,000 from this event.
The Holiday Spirit at Hilton Head Christian Academy For the past several years, the Key Club at Hilton Head Christian Academy has done a Christmas project for VIM. The students raise money during the fall so they can purchase Christmas gifts for our pediatric patients. Every year they deliver many beautiful gifts, wrapped and sorted so that our volunteers know exactly which package is right for each patient. This year several students at HHCA, supported by Manelle Graves, one of our volunteer interpreters delivered many gifts for our small patients. Thanks to the following students at Hilton Head Christian Academy: Stephen Page, William Sewell, David Wedgeworth,Mary Ellen Graves, Brendan Short , Malcolm Ford, Marcus Taylor and Jerrett Robinson.
If you ever have a thought that the young people of today are not kind and giving, think about this group—they are the philantrophic donors of tomorrow trying to make a difference today!