Community

“Fore!” (a good cause): Big Bend Golf Tournament scores big for the community in its milestone year

From left: David Hagelberg and Karen Zwolak (with Tampa Electric); Laurie Kepler, with Mary & Martha House; and also with Tampa Electric, Ron Bishop and Vivienne Davis.
From left: David Hagelberg and Karen Zwolak (with Tampa Electric); Laurie Kepler, with Mary & Martha House with her check raised by the Big Bend Golf Tournament; and also with Tampa Electric, Ron Bishop and Vivienne Davis.

TECO team members’ commitment to the community had no trouble staying on course at the 20th annual Big Bend Golf Tournament in Orlando. Hole after hole at Champions Gate Golf, more than 240 players and vendors did a whole lot of good helping Tampa-area organizations.

Over two decades, the tournament has grown significantly – so much so that starting last year, moving to a larger venue outside of Hillsborough County made sense. (And while Orlando isn’t in Tampa Electric’s service area, TECO still has a significant presence there through Peoples Gas, Florida’s largest natural gas provider.)

“The tournament has been a huge success for 20 years thanks in large part to tremendous support from our contractors and vendors,” said David Hagelberg, manager of Flue Gas Desulfurization Operations at Big Bend Power Station. “It’s really important to thank all of our dedicated volunteers – the event could not be a success without them.”

Joining Hagelberg behind the scenes on the tournament planning committee were other TECO team members including Ron Bishop, director of Big Bend Power Station; Vivienne Davis, administrative assistant; Karen Zwolak, manager of Environmental; Jack Prestwood, manager of Coalfield and Byproducts; David Knapp, manager of Maintenance; Vicky Lamb, administrative specialist lead; Terry Miller, manager of Operations; and Tom Berry, manager of Engineering.

Lamb pointed out that Chick-Fil-A donated sandwiches for the players at the event for the second year, while Bishop added more praise of his own.

“I’d like to thank all the TECO team members who donated their time to help the community, including our incredible contractors for their outstanding support year after year,” Bishop said.

Among the organizations the tournament benefitted was Mary & Martha House, a domestic violence shelter for women and children in Ruskin, Fla.

“Generous gifts such as yours are very important to our continued success and are appreciated not only by Mary & Martha House, but by the women and children in our shelters,” said Jody Byler, Mary & Martha House’s board chairwoman. “Thank you again for your continuing support of Mary & Martha House and our mission.”

As for the tournament’s others winners, you’ll find them not on the green but in the community, including the following organizations and donations they received:

For Hagelberg and the rest of the tournament planning committee, the countdown to next year’s event has already begun.

“We plan to be back at it next year – we always look forward to it,” he said. “There are a lot of needs in the community, but we’ve got a lot of community-focused people at TECO – and there’s a lot of good we can do.”

Tournament costs and donations were funded by the participant fees, including contributions from our contractors. 

 

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