For the NHLers who hit the greens of Hyde Mountain on Friday for the inaugural Sicamous Shootout, the action may not have been as fast as what they’re used to, but the day was still rewarding.
About 40 hockey celebs answered the call of NHL d-men and Sicamous natives Shea Weber and Cody Franson to come play golf in their hometown for a good cause, as did many others. In fact, there wasn’t a golf cart to spare. And, after a full, hot day of day of golf, event organizers estimate more than $100,000 was raised. As planned, a portion of this will be going to the BC Cancer Foundation. However, at least half that, thanks to Weber, will be going to a disaster relief account set up at the Sicamous branch of the Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union for those hometown residents in need. Sicamous chamber chief executive officer Corrinne Cross says Weber committed to match the $50,000 goal for the Shootout auction.
"Basically, wee made $70,000, and he matched it with $50,000 to go to flood relief," says Cross. "He announced that and the whole tent went crazy, it was so awesome."
Cross noted the $100,000 figure was preliminary, and that other aspects of the fundraiser had yet to be tabulated. She also heard from numerous participants, from the various NHLers and their agents, other golfers, etc., that it was the best charity golf event they'd ever been to.
In a Shootout news release, Weber notes that with all that's happened in Sicamous as of late, he and Franson, who organized the event, weren't sure it would even happen.
“But the more Cody and I talked about it, the more we were determined to not only go forward with the event, but to make it a resounding success," said Weber. "We know the fabric of the community, and faced with all the adversity recently, that they would band together to help pull it off.”
For a first year event, Franson said it exceeded expectations, and he is grateful to all the participants and sponsors and supporters who helped out.
“It really was a team effort and it was great to see so many people play big roles in making this event come to fruition and support two great causes,” said Franson.
Weber says it was great to see so many familiar faces at the event – family and friends – as well as the many visitors who enjoyed taking part in a good cause.
With the bar set so high for the inaugural event, Cross says she and the chamber have their work cut out for them for next years.