MECHANICSVILLE — A day of golf at Wicomico Shores is helping St. Mary’s County families who struggle with the cost of signing a child up for football or soccer.
The county’s R&P Classic generated more than $14,000 for the Recreation and Parks scholarship fund this fall, the department’s director told the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board at its November meeting. That tops the $10,000 in net proceeds the county reported from last year’s tournament.
The timing mattered. The department had just distributed close to $16,000 in scholarships to its league partners, the director said, naming the Pax River Raiders and St. Mary’s soccer organizations among them.
The aid can pay up to 50% of a child’s entry fee if the child receives free or reduced-price school lunch, he said. This was the first season the department paid out scholarships to the leagues that way.
The two figures measure different things. The $14,000 is what the tournament brought in for the fund. The roughly $16,000 is what the department sent out to leagues for the season.
A fundraiser with a long history
The tournament was played Friday, Oct. 2, at the county-owned Wicomico Shores Golf Course. It ran for years as the Scott Verbic Memorial Golf Tournament and later as Tee-It-Up for Kids before returning this year as the R&P Classic.
Over its decades-long run the event has raised more than $200,000 for scholarships, the county said in its August announcement. The fund helps county children take part in summer camps, sports leagues and other recreation programs at a discount.
Rounds slightly behind a record pace
The director also gave the board a look at business at the golf course. Golfers played about 14,600 rounds from July through October, the first four months of the fiscal year. That trails the same stretch last year, when the course hit 15,000 rounds for what he called an all-time record.
He pointed to less favorable weather and to an extra day the course closed for a paving project, with aeration done at the same time. October, he said, beat each of the two months before it and made up some of the gap.
Families with questions about scholarship help can reach Recreation and Parks at 301-475-4200, ext. 1800, or through the department’s tournament page.
