Oakville, Ontario – June 24, 2010 

With just three weeks before tee off, the Civitan Club of Oakville announces the addition of an extraordinary $50,000 hole-in-one at its third annual Civitan Charity Golf Classic in honour of the Oakville service Club’s celebrating its 50^th anniversary in our community.

The special $50,000 hole complements two other hole-in-ones:  Knar Jewellery’s (last year Knar offered a Rolex watch and diamond earrings to the potential ace golfer) and Mercedes-Benz of Oakville’s three-year lease of a 2010 C350 4Matic car (worth $40,000). The popular Civitan Annual Charity Golf Tournament at Glen Abbey is on track to be a sell-out in the next week with only five foursomes left.

Many players are returning golfers from the previous two tournaments hosted by Glen Abbey, home of 25 RBC Canadian Opens.  But interest in the annual tournament is also being accelerated by the fact that it’s in support of the Oakville Hospital Foundation.  One half of the proceeds are dedicated to its Child & Adolescent Inpatient Services Unit, providing in-hospital treatment for children and teens when they most need help.

Last year, the Civitan Club of Oakville donated $10,000 in student desks and chairs to the 10-patient Unit (most of its patients are in grade or high school while being hospitalized and continue their studies at the Unit).  Until the Civitan donation, the hospital rooms didn’t have desks and chairs for the student-patients.

The Club’s involvement with the hospital’s inpatient Unit last year (OTMH Program Leader for Mental Health, Vivian Demian, spoke at the 2009 tournament dinner and outlined the growing need for child and adolescent mental healthcare in Halton Region), inspired it to designate the Hospital Foundation to be recipient of one-half of the 2010 tournament’s proceeds (with the other half being distributed to other Oakville charities and community support groups).

Oakville businesses which have supported the tournament in the past and have returned as major sponsors include:

§  Volvo of Oakville                                       

§  Knar Jewellery

§  TD Canada Trust

§  House of Kangaroo

§  First Canadian Title

§  Slava Vodka

§  North Oakville Today

§  Hampton’s Restaurant

§  Designer’s Optical

President James McCannell, who is at the Club’s helm during its 50^th anniversary serving the Oakville community, said, “Our tournament not only supports community groups who help people in need right here in Oakville, but for our golfing guests the $850 per foursome fee represents incredible value.”

James added, “That fee includes 18 holes at the premier Glen Abbey course, cart, a $75 registration gift package and a sumptuous dinner. This is substantially less than a member of the general public seeking to play Glen Abbey would pay.  What value … and what an opportunity to help those in need right here in our community.”

Golfer Registration Information:

Foursomes are being sold for $850 which is less than $215 per player.  Visit www.oakvillecivitan.ca for tournament details including a registration form that can be downloaded and sponsorship information.

About Civitan International & The Civitan Club of Oakville:

Civitan International was founded in 1917. It’s an association of over 1,000 community service clubs with 40,000 world-wide members.  We are dedicated to building good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs serving individual and community needs with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities. The name ‘Civitan;’ is derived from Latin ‘Civitas’ or ‘Citizen’.

While individual clubs are free to pursue their own projects, on an international level Civitan is focused on service to the developmentally disabled.  In 1990, the Civitan International Research Center was established on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a $20 million grant from the Civitan International Foundation. The Civitan International Research Center was the first institution of its kind to be focused solely on the research of developmental disabilities. Medical professionals from all over the world also come to the Center for training on developmental disabilities.

Civitan has chapters in 28 countries including 31 Civitan Clubs in Canada. The Civitan Club of Oakville was founded in 1960.  The Oakville Club’s funding is generated by many community projects staffed by volunteer Civitans including: the Saturday Oakville Civitan Farmers’ Market at Hopedale Mall (since 1979), Mayfair Delta (every 2^nd Thursday), sales of Claxton Christmas cake and the annual charity golf tournament.

For additional information please contact:

James McCannell - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - Tel. (416) 737-7382

Jane Chen - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - Tel. (905) 330-2174