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By JONATHAN ROWE

Washington Daily News

 

A local club prepares for a day of special thanks and appreciation for area military next month – one that raised $5,300 for the Camp Lejeune Fisher House Foundation last year.

Cypress Landing Golf Club will host its seventh annual Military Appreciation Day (M.A.D.) on April 25 at 9:30 a.m. The event focuses on showing appreciation for local active duty military through a day of free golf, food, beverages and prizes. One of two charity events the club sponsors each year, M.A.D. will feature 90 to 100 servicemen and women from surrounding bases — Seymour Johnson Air Base, Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Base, Camp Lejeune Marine Base, U.S. Coast Guard units, as well as Air and Army National Guard.

The event, funded by CLGC members, Cypress Landing residents, area businesses and individual contributors, raised $5,300 for the Camp Lejeune Fisher House Foundation, an organization that houses servicemen and women during times of medical crisis. Other contributors include Hardees, which will provide breakfast, and Chick-fil-A,  providing dinner for participants.

The day will start with a color guard from Seymour Johnson posting colors and a ceremony featuring the national anthem, taps and a remembrance of the servicemen and women who have lost their lives in service of the United States, said Dale Fincke, co-chairman for the event. Military participants will then join a foursome with one Cypress Landing member in a shotgun start game of golf. Each Cypress member that plays on each team contributed $100, covering the entry fee of each team member, Fince said.

During the game, volunteers and residents from the Cypress Landing community and beyond will hold flags at each hole, man food and beverage carts and fly American flags in backyards facing the golf course, Fincke said.

“We try to show appreciation for our active duty military,” Fincke said. “Many of them have just returned from conflict areas. Then we take all of our proceeds and donate it to the Fisher House.”

Following golf, participants, volunteers and community residents will meet for dinner and entertainment by Never 2 Late, a local band. The event not only provides a day of honoring the sacrifices of military members through leisure and entertainment, but it also promotes the Washington and Chocowinity areas, as well as Cypress Landing, itself, Fincke said.

“I think it’s a great event,” Fincke said. “We cannot forget the sacrifices they’ve made and their families have made. We’re trying to show these young men and women that there are communities out there that are supportive of you and your families and this is one of them. (The event) is representative of a very, very appreciative community.”

Cypress Landing PGA golf professional Jeremy Shadle said the event is something the community, made up of many retired servicemen and women, supports as a whole.

“The Cypress Landing membership is made up of a large number of retired military and so the military is certainly near and dear to their heart,” Shadle said. “The whole community gets behind this event in financial support, you’ll see flags flying in back yards, the residents will be out feeding the active military people as they come by and just a lot of support for the military. And it’s a way they feel like they can give back.”

For more information or to contribute by becoming a sponsor, contact co-chairmen Dale Fincke at 703-628-3856 or Walter Stein at 252-940-1808 or CLGC Business Manager Brenda Jackson at 252-946-7788.