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Date: 5/28/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – A group of volunteers is coming together to raise money and help families of sick children during difficult times through a golf fundraiser.
Gayle Bradley, who serves as the key spokesperson for the non-profit organization Lukestronger, said the golf tournament began after some local residents rallied around her sick grandson, Luke Bradley, and his family to help them financially. She said she wasn’t a golfer and hadn’t had much of a role in organizing the first tournament, but when one of her friend’s grandson, along with Luke, needed bone marrow transplants not long after she knew the tournament needed to be an annual event.
“The following year, my girlfriend’s grandson needed a bone marrow transplant, as did Luke. So I thought, we have to resurrect this,” she said.
Bradley explained the purpose of the tournament, unlike other golf tournaments hosted locally, wasn’t to benefit charities, but instead to benefit the families impacted directly. “When you have a bone marrow transplant, you are immune deficient for a very long time, nine months to a year. You’re isolated, a child has to stay home,” she said. “If it’s a child, a parent is probably taking a leave of absence. The main objective is to raise the money and give it all to one family. They give all the proceeds to the family.”
She said while the tournament started with Luke, it has continued each year after with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, in 2021 the tradition will carry on once again for the fifth year.
She explained that each year she works with Baystate and the Boston Children’s Hospital to find a family local to the area that would benefit from the tournament. While the family receiving the money is typically chosen in advance, Bradley said that was not the case this year due to the nature of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the ability to host events, she said the organization was focused on being able to host the event and raise money prior to selecting who would benefit from the event.
She said while the organization works to give back to Western Massachusetts families, they try to keep the money as local as possible. She said previously they had raised money for families in Holyoke, Granby and South Hadley.
Also in years prior, Bradley said they had hosted a representative from Be The Match at the event. The non-profit is part of the national marrow donor program and is working to bring awareness to bone marrow donations across the country. She said in previous years, the representative was able to swab the inside of participants' mouths if they wanted to become a potential bone marrow donor.
“We actually had a person who participated in the golf tournament who signed up to Be The Match and was called to be a match through the golf tournament and saved someone’s life,” she said. Bradley said while they were actively working with the organization, she was unsure if they would attend the event due to the pandemic.
Bradley explained that in addition to hosting people for the tournament, businesses also sponsored a hole/tee or simply made a donation to benefit the family receiving the money. The event also includes a dinner for which tickets are sold and a variety of raffles. She said there will be about 50 raffle prizes for people to enter into during the day of the event. However, the big raffle prize this year was a Cub Cadet riding lawn mower that had been donated by RJ’s Outdoor Power Inc. in Chicopee.
While raffles ended the day of the event, the drawing for the lawnmower, she said, wouldn’t be done until Sept. 6, giving people plenty of time to participate.While the opportunity to golf in the event was sold out, tickets to the dinner, she said, were still available to be purchased. The dinner event and raffles, which is being hosted at the Ledges Municipal Golf Club on 18 Mulligan Dr. In South Hadley on June 19, is open to anyone who wishes to come.
Tickets for the dinner can be purchased online at https://lukestronger2021.com or in person at RJ’s Outdoor Power Inc. on 460 New Ludlow Rd. In Chicopee or at the Talk Of The Town restaurant on 26 Main St. in South Hadley. Dinner ticket sales will be stopped on May 12, she said. Those interested in volunteering should use the contact us page on the organization’s website (www.lukestronger.org) and those interested in donating a raffle item can contact Bradley via email at lukestrongergolf@yahoo.com.