The Estevan Police Association (EPA) and Estevan detachment of the RCMP will be making a large donation to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation later this summer thanks to a bevy of support they received while hosting a recent golf tournament.
Evan Handley, Estevan Police Service (EPS) detective and president of the EPA, said 126 golfers came out to TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club on a rainy afternoon July 23 to both play in their first Estevan Police Officers Memorial Open and to also help raise money for St. Joseph’s. He said they are still tallying up the final amount to be donated, but due to the great turnout the 18-hole fun tournament and supper can be considered a success.
“Years back we used to have the Bob Campbell Memorial Tournament,” said Handley, noting Campbell was a member of the EPS who died on duty. “Due to lack of interest, or whatever, the tournament had stopped running for a few years, so this year we decided we wanted to do something to help out our community. Something that we could raise money as well as honour those members who passed before us. So we came up with a golf tournament.
“We have lots of guys that golf in our police association and we know there are lots of golfers in our community and we thought it would be a good idea to get everybody else (out) and give them a chance to meet members of the Estevan Police and the local RCMP.”
Handley said the focus of the tourney was a fun day out on the course and they tried to realize that by having three hole-in-one prize holes as well as a DWI Hole 1 where golfers had to drive a ball while wearing drunk goggles supplied by SGI. He said this idea attributed to the good turnout they received from the many golfers at the Open who normally don’t wear blue to work.
“We had local EMS, local Fire and then just local people from our community (play),” he said. “We wanted it to be open to everybody so they could meet their local police officers because often times when you meet us it’s not where you want to meet us, I guess I’ll put it.”
After draining a putt on the 18th hole, Weyburn Police Association Constable Darcy Cleasby said his team of golfers, which included fellow Constables Shane St. John, Riley Reese and Gord Gateman, participated in the Open to both provide support to the EPA and RCMP in their initiative as well as enjoy a day of golf. He said despite the social nature of the tourney, the team was still “doing very well” on their scorecard.
Handley said they want to make the Estevan Police Officers Memorial Open an annual event each summer and they also want to begin holding some other community events during the year as well. He said their goal is to make a bigger impact in their community and put themselves out there for Estevan citizens to know.
“With a new generation of police officers coming (up), we’re all just trying to pick up and add to our community because we all live here and we’re all proud to be from Estevan and be serving Estevan,” said Handley. “We all just want to add to our community and contribute any way we can.”
