Customer & Vendor Appreciation Event Raises $20k for Make-a-Wish

Each year we take one day of our always-busy schedule to stop and smell the golf green and lake breeze – and more importantly to recognize our wonderful customers, vendors, and the community around us.

ErieTec’s Annual Golf Outing took place Thursday, August 9 at Lakeview Country Club in beautiful North East, Pennsylvania. Twenty two teams teed off at noon, and enjoyed many hours vying for the lowest score in addition to other contests as well.

On Hole 14, individuals were able to buy a ticket at a chance to win a Chevrolet Silverado from Dave Hallman Chevrolet if they got a hole-in-one. Sadly no one made it – though some were close! Two holes before that, Mersen sponsored a “Closest to the Pin” contest in which the winner would receive 12 live lobsters delivered to them. Tony Anthony of Yaskawa claimed that snappy prize.

At the end of the 18-hole scramble, the team with the lowest score was comprised of Scott Kuhn (Bearings Limited), Ed Reib (Plastek), and Jason Morrison and Tom Betras (Cristal USA). Great job, guys! They came in 10 under par for the day.

After the golfing was done, everyone was able to enjoy a lovely dinner (huge thanks to Lakeview Country Club) in addition to door prizes and a reverse raffle for a new set of golf clubs. It was quite the dramatic spectacle, but after many ups and downs, Dave Shanabarger of Regal PTS came out the winner! And I dare say Chris Sanders, Field Sales Manager for ErieTec, very much enjoyed the event.

The most special portion of the evening, of course, was hearing from Jan Espin Stork about the wishes that Make-a-Wish‘s Erie chapter are able to grant because of the contributions of our customers, vendors, and generous owners. She spoke of a young woman getting photography equipment, shadowing a Pittsburgh photographer, and even getting the model treatment herself. Another chose to go to Disney World, as many kids do, but Jan talked about how each visit is so special based on what the child loves most. Finally she shared a story of a young man who wasn’t able to do much outside of his room and truly loved gaming, so they were able to get him a nice gaming system and a shopping spree at GameStop, a trip made even more special when employees of the GameStop chipped in to get him even more. (There may have been some tears during this speech and no, we’re not ashamed.)

Those three wishes were what we were able to grant with our contribution from last year’s tournament – a great success – but this year’s was even bigger! Between the contributions from our sponsors, our customers, and our generous owners Michael Ketchel and Judy Miller, ErieTec is able to donate $20,000 to Make-a-Wish this year.

We absolutely look forward to next year to hear about what Make-a-Wish has been able to accomplish over that 12 months and also to have another exciting day on the golf course with vendors and customers alike.

Giant THANK YOU to our sponsors for the day!