Volunteer Foundation golf tournament is the year's best ticket if you want to help Du Quoin

Every day that goes by we learn that the Rotary membership's decision three years ago to stop paying abusive fees to a national organization and instead form a home grown Volunteer Foundation was the right decision.

It has changed the face of community service in Du Quoin. It continues to sponsor the annual middle school academic honors banquet. It has filled our schools with state-of-the art electronic "white boards," a tremendous teaching tool. It carried Joe Stephens' dream of a monument in Keyes Park to honor our Civil War dead from an idea to a beautiful memorial.

It has published books to honor our veterans.

It supports events like the Nub-Ability Athletes clinic in Du Quoin and youth fishing tournaments.

And, this summer, when the Du Quoin Library Board wanted to purchase a new digital microfilm reader and printer at a cost of over $10,000, the Volunteer Foundation pledged the first $3,000 and didn't blink. Their attitude: If that isn't enough, call us back.

Again, it took an idea from dreaming it to doing it. So visionary. So selfless. So "Du Quoin." This kind of investing in the community and our young people continues.

The foundation is hosting its second annual four person golf scramble at Red Hawk Golf Course on Thursday, Sept. 18.

Check-in and lunch is at 12 noon. The shotgun start is 1 p.m.

You can be a hole sponsor for $50. You can play for a donation of $60. A team of four and being a hole sponsor at the same time will cost you $290.

That will get you the entry fee, a golf cart, lunch and more."

The motto of the Volunteer Foundation is "Stand Up." The foundation honors those who achieve excellence by asking them to stand up and be recognized. If you want to be part of these amazing initiatives, contact Chip Banks of Chip Banks Chevrolet at PO Box 188 in Du Quoin or call him at 542-2114 to enter or to make a donation.