An annual golf tournament raised $5,000 in August for Jack’s Helping Hand in support of the Jack Ready Imagination Park. The Aug. 6 golf tournament, dubbed “The Gilbert,” attracted more than 100 people to Monarch Dunes in Nipomo, raising just more than $13,500 for the Gilbert family, whose son Jake, now in stable condition, was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. The Gilberts chose to donate $5,000 from those funds to Jack’s Helping Hand, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families of children with special needs.
The annual golf tournament was organized by Patrick McGlynn of Monarch Dunes Realty in 2010 as a grass-roots community effort to support the Gilbert family after their 1-year-old son Jake was first diagnosed. The first tournament, held on Oct. 16, 2010, drew in more than 220 participants and raised $37,500 for the Gilbert family.
Jack’s Helping Hand is in the process of building the Jack Ready Imagination Park on 33 acres of donated land on the Nipomo Mesa. The park will include themed play structures, a sand play area, soccer and baseball fields, basketball courts, and a therapeutic riding center. Currently under construction, the park has a late-2012 projected completion date.
Arts Briefs is compiled by Arts Editor Shelly Cone. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2011.