By Michael Schindler

Truth be told, I’m not much of a golfer. I am truly that guy who, if I were to “practice my golf swing,” would only be reinforcing a really bad golf swing. But this “Surrender Your Booty” event, which will benefit the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, will help many wounded and disabled veterans continue what may be a far better swing than mine.

On March 26, the Rotary Club of Parkland-Spanaway and the Seattle Seafair Pirates (who, if you aren’t from Seattle, are some of the scariest looking – yet friendliest – pirates you’ll set your eyes on) are inviting any and all to attend the “Surrender the Booty Bash 2” at The Sharon McGavick Center at Clover Park Technical College, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. SW, Lakewood, WA  98499. The tickets for this auction fundraiser are $45 and the doors open at 5 p.m. It is guaranteed to be an event you won’t forget.

The event provides an opportunity for an expected crowd of several hundred guests to “surrender their booty” for American Lake Veterans Golf Course and its campaign to build nine new holes for the wounded and disabled veterans who use that unique facility.

This nine-hole course, built on Veterans Administration Hospital grounds in 1955, was on the brink of closure in 1995 when federal funds were eliminated for the operation and maintenance of all VA golf courses. The same year, an agreement was reached to allow volunteers to fund, maintain and operate American Lake, which is located in Lakewood, near Tacoma and Seattle, and close to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  Since then, approximately 200 dedicated volunteers, many of them retired military service members, have tended to virtually every aspect of maintaining and operating the treasured facility.

In 2009, golf legend Jack Nicklaus and his firm, Nicklaus Design, donated services to design nine new holes, and the “Friends” launched a $4.5 million capital campaign to complete the nation’s only course designed specifically for the rehabilitation of wounded and disabled veterans.

If you can’t make the event, you can still help the friends of the golf course reach their goal by donating via the attached form.

Read more: https://myedmondsnews.com/2011/03/edmonds-military-wire-area-families-experiencing-operation-baby-boom/#ixzz1GanHdUfZ
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Michael Schindler, Navy veteran, and president of Edmonds-based Operation Military Family, is a guest writer for several national publications, author of the book “Operation Military Family” and “The Military Wire” blog. He is also a popular keynote and workshop speaker who reaches thousands of service members and their families every year through workshops and seminars that include  “How to Battle-Ready Your Relationship” or “What Your Mother-in-Law Didn’t Tell You.”  He received the 2010 Outstanding Patriotic Service Award from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.