My friends,

I need your help.

I am raising funds for my Special Olympics East Valley Golf program. We have 36 Special Olympics golfers that have a passion for playing golf. Each athlete plays on a team, typically with a parent or good friend, year round at many challenging courses in Arizona. This year we will be playing at Sun City CC, Omni National in Tucson, Antelope Hills in Prescott, Longbow in Mesa, Oak Creek CC in Sedona, Augusta Ranch in Mesa, and TPC Scottsdale. All of the funds raised will go to support this special year round golf program. These funds also enable us to participate in the Special Olympics National Invitational Golf Tournament if we are lucky enough to be selected. The National Tournament is 3 days and, like the PGA, we cannot use golf carts. So it can be very challenging.

I have been involved with Special Olympics for almost 10 years now where I have participated in a number of sports to include softball, floor hockey, basketball, flag football and of course golf. My service dog, Nala and I love to golf. We had the opportunity to represent the state of Arizona in the USA Games in New Jersey in 2014 where we played 18 holes unified golf with my mom being my partner. We then moved to Fort Bragg, NC were I also enjoyed Special Olympics and  played 9 holes on our own with my coach being my caddy. I even got the chance to check an item off my bucket list and got to play courses like Pinehurst #4 as a part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run kickoff. Moving back in Arizona this year, Nala and I are looking forward to playing 9 holes of golf by ourselves on some great courses in our home state. Golf has been a passion of mine since my Grandfather taught me the game and bought me a set of plastic clubs when I was 5 years old. I am thankful that Special Olympics allows me to play a sport I love with "Golf Dog" Nala by my side. We look forward to many more years of playing golf with Special Olympics and hopefully play again on the National and maybe International levels. 

How can you help?

The Thunderbirds have given us a great opportunity to raise funds by matching all donations by an additional 10%. One hundred percent of the funds stay in our Special Olympics golf program and enable us to continue to play golf and improve our game. Your help comes from sponsoring me with a one time donation, or  a Pledge per Birdie for the 4 days of the Tournament.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Jacob