Golf tournament benefits local service organizations
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Region - While the 148 golfers who participated in the Sixth Annual Karyn Polito Charity Golf Tournament may have had the most fun as a result of the event, it was the Shrewsbury Youth & Family Services (SYFS) and the Westborough Food Pantry that benefited the most.

The tournament, which took place at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton last month, raised more than $35,000 for the two charities, raising the cumulative total collected in the history of the event to more than $130,000.

State Rep. Karyn E. Polito, R-Shrewsbury, who serves Shrewsbury and Westborough, could have chosen to donate the funds to any of a plethora of worthy causes, chose those two when she began hosting the tournament.

"The Shrewsbury Youth & Family Services is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and as a member of its board of directors I get a chance to see clearly how the municipal funds earmarked for SYFS have diminished over the years," Polito said. "It was a pretty easy choice for me to make SYFS one of the primary beneficiaries because I have seen the need to increase private fund-raising for this very worthy cause.

"Plus, I know that the agency serves Shrewsbury's youth and its families and helping it is a chance to help people right in my district, right in my hometown," Polito added.

The longevity of the Westborough Food Pantry, which has been in existence more than 50 years, as well as its location, has played a role in its being one of the tournament's charities from the start.

"It's an amazing place that operates completely through people volunteering their time," Polito said. "Plus, I think it's important to highlight that even a town like Westborough, which so many people think is such a wealthy place, needs a food pantry - every community does. This organization feeds more than 60 families each week and they do so in a very quiet, respectful, dignified way."

Checks for the charities are presented at the post-tournament dinner each year.

"What's special about doing it that way is that both Harry Lindsay, who runs the Westborough Food Pantry, and Jeff Chin, Director of SYFS, talk each year about how the money has been spend or is going to be spent," Polito said.

Lindsay has told those in attendance at the dinner that the monies the Westborough Food Pantry has received has been used to buy, among other things, a new freezer and to expand the Farm Coupon Program, a program that gives Food Pantry visitors a chance to obtain fresh fruit and produce from local growers.

Chin has explained at the post-dinner bash that the funds have been used to start an after-school program.

"These are new programs that these organizations wouldn't be able to offer without the additional funds raised by the golf tournament," Polito said.

Polito was quick to point out that the success of the tournament - and its mere existence, for that matter - would not be possible without the help of many volunteers, including old friend Ron Bertelli and the Central One Federal Credit Union, whose president is Dave L'Ecuyer, who sits with Polito on the SYFS Board of Directors.

"Ron and Central One make it look so easy for us," Polito said. "We just show up, welcome everyone, and go out and play golf. But they're always busy behind the scenes. They begin planning the tournament, which takes place in August, in January. If it wasn't for the efforts of Ron and Central One, this tournament would not be the success it is today."