A perfect spring day greeted 100 players at Southern Golf Club in Keysborough as they teed off for Villa Maria’s inaugural Charity Golf Day on Monday 19 October.

Twenty-five teams competed for game day honours in the Ambrose tournament, with the team from IBM winning on the day.

While there was some serious competition, the focus was on teamwork, having fun and raising much-needed funds for Villa Maria’s Austin Street development – Victoria’s first purpose-specific home for young people with high level complex care needs who are currently living in nursing homes.

Some 42 companies willingly responded to our call for sponsors, players, prizes and services – in fact our sponsorship opportunities were fully subscribed!

We would particularly like to acknowledge the generous support of Naming Rights Sponsor: RTG (Reflex Technology Group); Major Sponsors: Bowens – The Builders Choice, Coady Valuers, Williams Boag Architects; and Hole Sponsors: BDO Kendalls, Brandon Office Park, CGU Workers Compensation, Epicor, MJG Office Partitions, iCare, Metcalfe Carpets, NAB Health, Nesco Services, Norden Conversion, Optus, Randstad, Russell Kennedy, Selectus, Teknocorp and Thomson Adsett.

The game-day raffle proved popular, with the latest Apple iPhone 3G as first prize kindly donated by Optus. Pete Smith was Master of Ceremonies for the day, which concluded with a BBQ dinner and the presentation of prizes. Due to this wonderful support, we exceeded our goal and raised over $56,000 towards the capital needed to build Austin Street.

We still require $56,000 towards the capital cost of the Austin Street residence that will make a huge difference to the lives of the young people who will call it home. If you would like to support this vital project, please call Toll Free 1800 036 377 or donate online at: www.villamaria.com.au.

The 2nd Annual Villa Maria Charity Golf Day will take place on Monday 25 October 2010.