ITASCA, Ill. – Golfers from across the United States gathered on a picture-perfect cloudless Indian Summer morning on Saturday, September 9, for the annual Plast-Chicago Open Charity Golf Outing, held at the Eaglewood Resort in Itasca, Ill.
For 19 consecutive years, participants have been coming from all corners of the U.S., including: California, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida and Washington, D.C., to take part in this very popular and well-attended charity golf tournament, hosted by the Chicago-based Pobratymy fraternity.
Using a team scramble format to engage the 57 men and women golfers, this outing provided an opportunity for participants to enjoy friendly competition and great camaraderie surrounded by beautiful natural surroundings.
Coinciding with the first day of the traditional German Oktoberfest celebration, the fun continued with the customary post-golf reception, banquet and festivities held at the festival grounds of the nearby St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Bloomingdale, Ill., with the traditional Oktoberfest gemütlichkeit and dinner, beverages and music. Afterwards, the award winners were announced and a raffle of donated articles held.
The men’s tournament was won by Evhen Andrus, Mykola Sidelnik, Walter Kosogoff and Marko Kochno. The women’s tournament was won by Katrusia Saldan, Areta Kuritza and Lida Stankevych.
The men’s and women’s longest drive competitions were won by Dennis Hartigan and Katrusia Saldan, while the closest to the pin contest by Wasyl “Orca” Mirutenko. The putting contest was an exciting playoff when two individuals – Daniel Hryhorczuk and Nestor Popowych – tied. Winning the 50/50 Charity Raffle was Lida Stankevych.
As usual, proceeds from this year’s event will provide continued financial support for Plast and The Pobratymy Foundation, a not–for–profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, established in 1992, by members of the Plast Pobratymy fraternity. Over the past 25 years, the foundation has contributed over $145,000 to further the principles of Plast and Ukrainian scouting to Plast chapters in United States, Canada and Ukraine.
The Pobratymy Foundation and the tournament’s organizer expressed enormous gratitude to all the wonderful volunteers and sponsors for their support, generosity and commitment, as they are the life-blood of the annual charity event. Acknowledged were: Ms. Kuritza, Andres Durbak, Andrij Ripeckyj, Ihor Hrynewycz, John Jaresko and the staff at St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, as well as the Selfreliance Foundation of the Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union.
The 20th anniversary Plast-Chicago Golf Outing will be held on Saturday September 8, 2018, at the Renwood Golf Course, followed by the dinner, awards banquet and festivities at the Ukrainian Youth Camping Organization’s (UYCO) “Oselia” campground in Round Lake Park, Ill. All previous participants from across the United States and Canada are cordially invited to join in celebrating this upcoming jubilee event.