Teaming up to benefit many

Teaming up to benefit many

By Kyla Hurt

The two days feature two separate happenings that will together benefit the community locally. Of the monies raised not only during the Sunday, October 9 Celebration Dinner, but also during the Monday, October 10 Bobby Hoffman Memorial & Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) golf outing, 40 percent will be put toward the Bobby Hoffman Memorial Scholarship Fund, 40 percent will go to FCA and the remaining 20 percent will benefit Jacksonville High School (JHS) Boys Basketball. The partnerships strengthen the efforts and reinforce the notion of teamwork and working together. Todd Sweatman with the FCA likes the idea of “creating scholarships in his memory … it’s done in honor of Bobby.” Sweatman noted that many former players and coaches have been invited to the events and “hopes to get a lot of alumni back.” Former JHS Boys Basketball Coach Mel Roustio will be speaking at the Sunday Celebration Dinner. Sweatman joked of the long-time JHS coach, “We told him he had 20 minutes to talk … and then we set aside 35.” “It should be really fun,” added Sweatman.Super Crimson with B24 no line[1].JPG

Below is a portion of the letter sent to many about the Bobby Hoffman Memorial & Fellowship of Christian Athletes golf outing:

Crimson Basketball Supporters:

Since 2006, I helped Bobby to host an annual golf outing to benefit the JHS Boys Basketball program. After his death in 2012 we continued the outing to honor his memory and raise money for The JHS Bowl Fund. Your support and generosity as helped us complete so many renovations to The JHS Bowl. For this I thank you.

I have been searching for a way to continue to honor Bobby but the golf outing is extremely overwhelming to continue on our own. His family and friend’s goal is to fund the Bobby Hoffman Memorial Scholarship Fund to help JHS Basketball players. I appreciate the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation for managing this Fund and for their years of support of the efforts to honor Bobby, and support The JHS Bowl.

In order for the outing to continue I have to find good volunteers and partners to continue this
effort. Todd Sweatman, a friend and neighbor of Bobby’s growing up, recently joined the staff of FCA and was planning a golf outing to fund that ministry. Todd also played and coached basketball at JHS and Turner for many years. We have decided to join our efforts in an attempt to put together an enjoyable event that will benefit the Bobby Hoffman Memorial Scholarship Fund, the JHS Boys’ Basketball program, and the local FCA
organization. By working together, we hope to increase the size of the event and operate it annually.

The partnership has been working to bring on more sponsors and events to help fund all three organizations. The events will include a dinner on Sunday, Oct. 9th at Hamilton’s “110 N East.” Tickets for the dinner are $25 per person and will include dinner, auction and former JHS Basketball Coach Mel Roustio sharing some humorous stories of his long successful career. The Golf Outing will be held on Monday, Oct. 10th. The golf fee is $75, which includes 18 hole, cart and lunch. There will be a morning and afternoon scramble with a lunch included. We have worked to expand the golf outing this year to include a golf-a-thon, in which those who do not golf have the opportunity to sponsor some very special volunteer golfers.

We are looking forward to a great weekend in which we can honor Bobby and raise some money for some great causes. Please, join us!

Thanks again for all your support of my family, Bobby, JHS Basketball and the JHS Bowl Fund. I look forward to the partnership with FCA to continue to have a successful event. We hope you can make it this year.

~ Kristan Becker Hoffman”

Sweatman added that the auction portion of the dinner would hold some great items, such as an autographed Yadier Molina jersey, an autographed Andre Iguodala jersey, St. Louis Cardinals tickets, some baseballs autographed by Hall of Fame players and much more.

As per the addition of the “Golf-A-Thon” to the golf outing, area “celebrity” golfers will attempt to play 50 holes of golf on Monday, October 10. People are asked to please pledge per hold golfed or as a flat fee. One important note is that the current JHS players will be the ones out working to find pledges, not the “celebrities.” It is tremendous that the student athletes themselves will be out fundraising and working to support the very scholarship and programming that might benefit them. It “creates pride in the program and in the community,” agreed Sweatman.

Those interested in reservations for the dinner and/or the golf outing, or in donating, please contact Todd Sweatman at 217-370-2008 or tsweatman@fca.org.

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About the author

Kyla Hurt is a capable boondoggler trained in the arts; she’s also an accomplished event coordinator with experience from museum fundraising to art festivals. She enjoys puppies, sunshine, and good radishes – and wit. Wit is good, too.

View all articles by Kyla Hurt

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