IAAD’s Service Dog Scramble
It rained for weeks before the Golf Tournament…
The Fundraising Committee held collective breath and took solace in the positive optimism of our planning leader.. She was steadfast and organized and pragmatic and even though there were a few competing priorities and not as much participation as she was hoping in the early stages, she led the team to build the best Golf Tournament we could build.
Sponsors donated swag - everything from golf shirts, to gift baskets to keychains and yeti coolers. The puppies and volunteers worked on their ‘go say hi’ and duration for the event and guests did book their spots!
And on the day of the tournament, the sun came out…
It was a beautiful day in Turner Valley. With 69 golfers, 15 IAAD puppies in training, 20 volunteers and Golf course staff, a flawless event was executed!
Mulligans were exciting and ‘dog’ themed, golfer gift bags were full of surprises, the puppies enjoying meeting the golfers and we even got scent samples to take home for training! Our golf pro was, as always, the Professional, with teams lined up to try their hand at beating her swing.. Some actually did! The Golf course staff were friendly and brilliant, filling all the gaps and executing an incredible dinner - buffet style at the end of the day. Some folks even said it was the ‘best prime rib i’ve ever had’!
Our inaugural Golf Tournament was the first of many to come if a successful initiative. It was to give us a baseline so that we could gauge expectations and take feedback to build an even better event in the future.
And it was a RAVING SUCCESS from all who attended.
The Silent Auction, full of over 20 items, successfully raised $3,400. The Westjet Raffle raised $7,000 and our tournament brought ~$20k net to IAAD, helping us grow our sustainability in caring for our assistance dogs in training.
Thank you to all that participated. From donating fantastic swag, to Sponsoring, to being the ones swinging the clubs, we’re grateful for each and every one of you.
We’re already planning our 2027 event, and we can’t wait to see how it grows!!
Stay tuned folks!!
