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Sac State students demonstrate the power of two for tee

Sometimes one person can make a difference. Sometimes it takes two. Sacramento State juniors Tiffany Bertolini and Jennifer Lee have turned a small class assignment into a community project that will help improve the lives of dozens of homeless families in Sacramento.      
    
In February, Bertolini and Lee began setting up a charity golf tournament to raise money for St. John’s Shelter for Women and Children. The shelter was recently featured on an Oprah segment on the homeless. Lee says they were moved by the mothers who “need every bit of help they can get,” and by St. John’s program where “these moms are taught skills and given a second chance.”

The tournament is 1 p.m., Saturday, May 2, at the Whitney Oaks Golf Club in Rocklin. The cost is $75 per player, with $50 going for the green fees and $25 for the charity.

“We know golfers are passionate, so we figured we’d get people to golf for a good cause,” says Bertolini. 

What she didn’t know was how successful the campaign would be. The two Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration majors hoped to raise about $2,000, but they have already surpassed that amount. In addition to setting up the tournament, they sought community donations, made phone calls, wrote letters and e-mails and visited businesses to make their pitch for support.

Monetary donations started pouring in, and by April they had collected $4,000. At least 80 players have already signed up for the tournament.  

In addition, they will deliver a truckload of donations to St. John’s including four high chairs, two strollers and dozens of toys.
           
Their Planning and Recreation Parks and Tourism course professor, Beth Erickson, says all her students do worthwhile projects, “but every once in a while I get an exceptional project, and this is an exceptional project.”
           
For more information on the golf tournament, contact Jennifer Lee at (916) 402-9717 or Tiffany Bertolini at (626) 484-6893.