TOLEDO, Ohio — Nearly 100 golfers hit the fairway for the 24th Annual D.O.V.E. Fund Golf Outing at South Toledo Golf Club.
This event raises funds for The D.O.V.E. Fund's initiative of helping Vietnam veterans be able to assist those in Vietnam. The nonprofit foundation was created almost 25 years ago. In that time, D.O.V.E. has raised more than $4 million to fund more than one hundred projects in some of Vietnam's poorest regions.
At the 2024 golf outing, Vietnam veteran and D.O.V.E. treasurer, Tim Kearney, said he hopes this year is a hole-in-one when it comes to raising funds.
"We have over 55 schools. We have scholarships every year. We have eye clinics," Kearney said. "We have several other humanitarian projects as well as helping the elderly and the children of Vietnam, with other special needs."
He admitted his time in Vietnam was not as taxing as his fellow servicemen and women, but wanted to make sure everyone who is living and able to serve has a chance to heal while helping build up an area destroyed by the war.
During the event, attendees roll around in golf carts and putt for par. It's all fun but for a purpose said Friend of D.O.V.E., Michele Free.
She explained how she learned of the nonprofit through her time as the Maumee Rotary Club president. She said the passion she saw from some of the D.O.V.E. members who were also part of the Rotary became very important to her.
"It's special because it touches the people who serve here that I learned from. They are mentors to me," Free said. "My Rotary mentors taught me how to give back. So what they're passionate about becomes what I'm passionate about and it's the right thing to do."
Owner of South Toledo Golf Club and a former long-time board member, Greg Fish, said he looks forward to this event every year. He said he was in college during the war and hadn't been drafted. Therefore, he wanted to be part of the healing any way he could now.
"Many of my friends were Vietnam veterans and I said, 'This is a chance for me to do something,'" Fish said. "Support them and what our country did at that time and the mending we're trying to do. We're making a big difference."
For more information about The D.O.V.E Fund, click here.