Dollahon golf tourney continues to benefit area children

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Jim Dollahon loved golf, and he loved helping children and families in need at his job as an investigator with the Pierce County Sherriff’s Department.

Nearly nine years after his sudden death at the age of 38, the people behind the James F. Dollahon Memorial Fund continue to combine both of those passions with the spirit and dedication of its namesake.

Six months after his death, in August of 2000, the Memorial Fund sponsored the very first James. F. Dollahon Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit area children and families in need. Eight years later it’s still going strong. The 9th annual James F. Dollahon Memorial Golf Tournament will take place Monday, Aug. 4 at the River Falls Golf Club.

In the last year alone, funds raised at the tournament have helped pay for special services and items for many abused and neglected children in several local counties. It paid for a laptop computer for the Pierce County courtroom that is compatible with new equipment in the interview room. It purchased a digital video camera for a local police department, and it paid for numerous emergency requests on behalf of local families and children in need.

In April, the fund helped establish a month-long campaign in Pierce County called “April is Child Abuse Prevention Month,” with the theme; “Hands Across the Community.” As part of the campaign, the fund sponsored a brunch and silent auction that raised nearly $1,700 for the Pierce County Special Fund and the Friends of Foster kids Fund. An ice cream social raised another $138 for the Coordinated Services Team, which provides assistance and services to families at risk.

The most visible prevention activity of the campaign was Pierce County elementary school children making cutout hands that were displayed in county businesses. The hands helped elicit conversations about child abuse awareness and provided visible reminders about the problems of child abuse.

The fund also sponsored a training session attended by school personnel, victim advocates, law enforcement, Human Services staff and day treatment and residential treatment staff from 10 counties in Wisconsin and Minnesota for a day of learning and dialogue about the medical and legal aspects of child abuse and neglect.

This year’s tournament will begin with lunch at 11 a.m. and a shotgun start at 1 p.m. with a social hour and dinner at 5 p.m. The tournament will be a scramble format with a TGB 49cc Moped going to the first hole-in-one on each of the par 3 holes.

Cost is $80 per person and includes lunch, golf with cart, dinner and prizes. Lunch for non-golfers is $5 and dinner alone is $25.

For more information, or to register for the tournament, contact Neil Gulbranson at 273-6806. Donations can also be sent to the Pierce County Sherriff’s Department, c/o Gulbranson, P.O. Box 9, 432 W. Main St. Ellsworth, WI 54011. Checks should be made payable to the James F. Dollahon Memorial Fund.

Tags: community, riverfalls, dollahon, golf_tournament, childabuse