Newcastle, WA (June 28th, 2018) - Patriotism was in full swing at the 23rd Annual Red, White & Blue Golf Classic hosted by USO Northwest at The Golf Club at Newcastle. Presented by the Seattle Mariners, Centerplate, Delta Air Lines and The Boeing Company, USO Northwest's Golf Classic Red, White & Blue Golf Classic raised over $312,000 - making this the most successful golf fundraiser in our history and retaining its foothold on the Pacific Northwest's largest charity golf tournament supporting our military and their families. Proceeds from the Golf Classic fund USO-NW operations throughout Washington and Oregon.
We are grateful for the tremendous support from more than 80 sponsors whom without their support we would not be able to provide USO programs and services to our military and their families stationed in or traveling through the Pacific Northwest.
The Force Behind the Forces this year, include Course Sponsors the
Seattle Mariners,
Centerplate,
Delta Air Lines and
The Boeing Company; Golf Cart Sponsor
GEICO; Double Eagle Sponsors
Alaska Airlines,
NECA- Puget Sound Chapter,
SASCO and
Tito's Handmade Vodka; our Eagle Sponsors
Silver Cloud Inn & Hotels and
Process Solutions Inc.
USO Northwest welcomed 430 golfers, sponsors and attendees, including a golf team representing all six service branches from our region. This year's tournament had everything but rain, including a flyover by the
Blackjack Squadron of Arlington, an 18-gun salute (for 18 holes of golf), and even lunch prepared by
Master Gunnery Sergeant Jeremiah Burns, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret), the current Armed Forces Champion of the National Capital BBQ Battle Cookoff. We would like to congratulate the Navy Team, which won a scorecard playoff over the National Guard and Coast Guard. The names of the winning Navy team will be engraved on the coveted "Chairman's Military Cup". We also would like to congratulate the
Permission To Start Dreaming Team, for taking first place overall.
Funds raised at the Red, White & Blue Golf Classic enable the USO Northwest to serve over 830,000 military personnel and their family members annually via the four USO-NW Centers located at Sea-Tac International Airport, Portland International Airport, McChord Field and our new Camp Lewis Center (both on Joint Base Lewis McChord) and our two USO-NW Mobile Canteens.
At the dinner following golf, a special "Raise the Paddle" video made by
AiJ Media highlighted the USO Northwest's mission of supporting America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, throughout their service to the nation. Thanks to the talents of Auctioneer extraordinaire, J
ohn Curley, over $18,000 was raised to support our local military and their families.
This year's Golf Committee was led by Co-Chairs
Ryan Van Maarth (Senior Director, Construction and Planning, Seattle Mariners) and
Christopher Ellis (Amazon's Corporate Security Manager), both also serve on the USO Northwest Board of Directors. A very special thank you to John Curly for literally ripping the shirt off his back and pounding out 83 push-ups in 60 seconds to support our service members and their families!
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