18 FORE Life

We want to thank everyone who participated in our 10 Year Celebration! It was a perfect weekend and we feel our best event to date. For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of the weekend’s activities:

The Ben Kruse 18 Fore Life Charity Golf Event Banquet was kicked off with a beautiful Invocation by Vaughn Wright. The effort Vaughn and Nancy put into getting this prayer on video is a gift that will last forever.

Kristi Whitehead told of her battle with cancer. She showed everyone why she is a hero and an inspiration to everyone who knows her. Her attitude, her humor, her love of family and friends is clearly what drives her and we wish her continued happiness and health!

John Mabry ended his baseball career with 96 homeruns. He hit his 97th in Dexter on June 4th! His talk about his life, his career, his perspective, was inspiring, motivational, and uplifting. Having him join us throughout the weekend to take pictures, sign autographs, and share stories was priceless. We thank him for making the effort and taking time away from his wife and four kids to add to our event.

Kip Musgrave gave a wonderful Toast To Ben. Anyone who knows Kippy knows this was not easy for him for many reasons. Still, he did a great job and we all know Ben was fired up hearing his tribute.

Thanks to Gary Rhine and Jimmy Miles, our auction raised over $11,000.00 this year. When you add in the George Strait guitar that was raffled and given away to Shawn Wright Saturday night, we once again approached $20,000.00! Once again, we thank them for paying it ‘forward’.

Marcus Nordan won a gift basket donated by Preferred Hospice. Vivian Hatchell won the 2010 Yamaha Golf Cart and trailer.

Addie Kruse joined The BUZZ on stage and was just awesome! She was then joined by Madaline Parker and Andie Kruse for a song. The BUZZ had folks dancing into the night and the evening turned into a wonderful, fun party!

Saturday was a gorgeous day of golf. We thank over 340 golfers who fill our course and help raise money by participating each year. The tournament itself was our funnest and ran as smooth as any of the 10 we have put on. Thank you again and remember to sign up early next year!

Ben would have loved every minute of it. He would have been overwhelmed by Kristi. He would still be talking about John Mabry being so down to earth and nice. He would have hugged so many people and given so many high-fives. I know he is smiling as he sees all we are doing. Our TEAM is a wonderful bunch of folks and we thank you for being on it.

Don’t forget to be checking the website for the video produced by David Robinson and October Skies Production, as well as loads of pictures from the weekend of events which should be up soon.

SIGN UP anyone and everyone you know who doesn’t already get these newsletters. It is simple, just click here and type in their name and email address!

Until next time, thanks again for being a BIG reason why we have been able to give away $387,000.00 in love offerings since 2005….and in the process of sending out so many more, thanks to this year’s effort!

With Love,
Scott

We would like to thank Noreen and The Daily Statesman, along with everyone who made the time to join us for this picture. Please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in attending the banquet and golfing. Limited space in both is still available.

Click here to read the article.

The Daily Statesman is planning to print a tribute to 18 FORE Life and on Monday, April 26th they would like ANYONE that has been involved with our organization to meet at the BEC. Please see the details below. Hope to see you there!

Mark your calendars for June 4-5 and join us in Dexter as we celebrate 10 years!!!!!  I can’t believe our first golf tournament was that long ago and I sincerely can’t believe how we have grown in that amount of time.  I hope 2010 is off to a great start for each of you.  We will begin organizing and raising money soon, so any ideas you may have, please share them with us. We aim to put on our best event to date and look forward to seeing you there.

Banquet tickets will go on sale later in late April/early May!  Don’t miss this one. Golf Teams will be contacted to see if they want their spots back, then we will open it up and fill it up after that!

Thanks for all you do to support The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Charity Golf Event.  Ben would be so happy and so proud of our work.  I know he is doing his part now to bless us and send good things our way.  Something is telling me he would want us to set our goal pretty high this year after giving away over $100,000.00 in love offerings in 2009 alone!

Below comes to us from a friend named Debbie Rodewald.  She has battled and is winning her fight against cancer!  I believe her words and tone sum up what this charity is all about.  You can feel the determination, the Faith, the hope, the appreciation for this life we are given, and the love for family and friends.  Isn’t that what all of this is really about?  I asked her about sharing her words with you and she said to share it with anyone it may help!  Thank you Debbie for being a hero and motivating us all to live life to the fullest and to keep fighting this horrific disease.

I want to give my friends an update.  Tomorrow morning I will have my port a cath removed.  I am now a one year survivor and am told I am cancer free.  My recent tests are all clear.  I am on a five year treatment of one pill a day as a preventative and an injection every six months to prevent the pills from giving me osteoporosis.  Yeah, one thing leads to another….go figure.

You all have been so faithful to keep me in your prayers and to email me throughout the year.  I am so thankful for my friends.  You will never know how much it has meant to me to get those emails of encouragement and to know there were people out there holding me up to the Lord in prayer.  Last year was tough in some ways but such an enlightening and glorious year too.  I know that sounds odd but there have been so many blessings for me last year.  So many prayers answered.  I have reconnected with so many old friends, made new friends and found relatives that I may never have had the chance to catch up with.  All we ever hear in the news are the bad reports.  I have been witness to many good reports…oh, I have seen the bad too but I have met so many people with so much hope!  I ask that you continue to pray for me and I will pray for you too….we all need the support of others but keep those that are still struggling at the top of your list.  Cancer has become the plague of our time and there are many who will not win their battle.  Let’s keep them lifted up in prayer.

Again, thank you for walking thru this time in my life with me.  I have felt your presence and I will always remember what you have done for me….whether it be prayer, a card sent, a call, a ride to one of my treatments or simply thinking of me..there are so many things you have all done to help me…..I appreciate you.  I love you all!  I am blessed!

Please keep in touch.  Life is short and we need each other.  LU Deb

Please take the time this holiday to read this inspiring article by Megan Leonardi, a senior at Fremont (TX) High School about keeping “the spirit of Christmas in our hearts year round.”

Click here to read the article

Merry Christmas!