Headline: Shawn Bennett Plays It Forward to Help Raise Important Funds For The First Tee of Massachusetts
For Immediate Release: November 3, 2009
Norton, MA — Earlier this season, the best PGA Tour players visited the Bay State and stole headlines while competing in the 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship.
Photo Caption: Shawn Bennett (left) presents Joe McCabe, Executive Director of The First Tee of Massachusetts, with his donation.
An important element of that annual PGA Tour event was the Birdies for Charity Program which helped raise important funds for local charities including The First Tee of Massachusetts. The program was designed to give participating charities the opportunity to generate contributions for their organization based on the number of "birdies" made by the contestants during the Deutsche Bank Championship.
This season marked another stellar year for The First Tee of Massachusetts as its generous donors helped make it one of the top earning Birdies for Charity participants.
Leading the charge was a local youngster – Shawn Bennett – who was one of three junior golfers who participated in the first year of the American Junior Golf Association's Playing It Forward initiative. The senior at Cushing Academy raised more than $1,400 by collecting flat donations and per-birdie pledges. Half of these funds were donated to The First Tee of Massachusetts while the remaining funds went towards supporting the AJGA’s youth development programs through the AJGA Foundation.
"I have seen the benefit of volunteerism and I knew that my participation would not only enrich my life, but the lives of young children," said Bennett, who resides in Sterling. "I saw the Playing it Forward Program as a service learning project that allowed me to participate in meaningful service that not only provided me with a learning experience of civic responsibility, but also strengthen the community."
The Playing It Forward initiative gives AJGA members all the tools necessary to coordinate a successful fundraising campaign in their communities with the opportunity to give back. In 2009, 62 juniors participated in the program raising more than $55,000.
"Shawn was a great asset to The First Tee of Massachusetts this year," said Joe McCabe, Executive Director of The First Tee of Massachusetts. "We certainly appreciate his willingness to support our program and his outstanding play certainly speaks to his ability as a golfer. It is a pleasure to see someone so young start to give back to the game that has given us all so much."
Congratulations to Shawn on a job well done!
About The First Tee of Massachusetts
The First Tee of Massachusetts was established in 2003 in hopes of bringing the game of golf and its inherent values to the Bay State's underprivileged and at-risk youth. The home of The First Tee of Massachusetts is MGA Links at Mamantapett, an 18-hole, par 3 facility located in Norton, Massachusetts. More than 400 youth from 25 different communities participate annually in a seven-week golf and life skills development program at MGA Links at Mamantapett.