Rosemary McIntire is getting ready to tee it up in a big way for two local charities.
She will be playing 99 holes of golf in a single day between now and Feb. 14 for the benefit of Bloom and Promise Place. The exact date has not been determined due to weather, but it will happen in Tyrone at the Wendell Coffee Golf & Event Center.
McIntire is a board member of Bloom, formerly Fayette Youth Protection Homes, which works to connect adults with at-risk children and support them through the foster parenting process, and also operates the Friday-Johnson Home, a group home in Brooks. Bloom’s motto: “Changing the face of foster children.” Its web address is www.bloomouryouth.org.
Promise Place is a nonprofit organization that helps victims of domestic violence in Fayette, Pike and Spalding counties. Its motto: “Where domestic violence ends.” The web address is www.promiseplace.org.
McIntire volunteers at the Fayette Thrift Shop, whose net proceeds are divided between Bloom and Promise Place and have been for 24 years. She began working there in the summer of 2010.
It was in 1998 that she first became involved with what is now Bloom – coincidentally, by participating in a 100-hole golf marathon. Now 54 years old, she has been playing since 1986 although she says “playing at it” is a more apt description.
The 100-hole event, on a long course, was hosted for two or three years and then replaced by an annual golf tournament for several years more.
McIntire has found that with golf fundraisers, individuals and organizations are happy to help support them financially through sponsorships and donations but often do not have the time to participate by actually playing golf. So she decided to do a one-woman event to raise money for her two favorite charities.
“I’m the only player, so that gives me a pretty good chance of winning,” she said with a laugh.
While she hasn’t played an event like this in a long time, it will help that she is doing it on a par-3 course, which will be easier physically than a larger course.
“I think I can do it,” she said. “I’m in pretty good shape.”
Interested sponsors can e-mail her at rsmc@bellsouth.net or stop by the thrift store at 740 N. Glynn St. in Fayetteville. Make checks payable to Fayette Thrift Shop.
McIntire is hoping to raise enough money to purchase a used truck for the store that is much-needed, she said. She hopes the community will step up and help meet that need.
“Something that is good for the thrift store is good for our two charities,” she said, “and that is good for the county.”
