It seems appropriate that, with White Cane Week nearing, that Darren Douma is once again busy organizing golf tournaments.
As president of the Canadian Council of the Blind-VIBE (Visually Impaired Blind Empowerment) local chapter, and a world class blind golfer, Douma said last week that Creston will host the 2019 BC Provincial Invitational Blind Golf Championships in July.
In addition the Creston chapter is also hosting events in Kimberley—2019 Western Canadian Open Blind Golf Championships (July 8-10) and St. Eugene—2019 ISPS HANDA Canadian Open Blind Golf Championships (July 11-13).
Douma said he is particularly excited about the Creston event, and not only because this is his home town.
“This year participating in these events, I will be joined by several new golfers from BC,” he said. ” Locally I will be joined by Howard Colwell, a long-time Creston resident and fellow CCB-VIBE Chapter member. We also have two new BC members participating this year and they happen to be ladies. We have a very low percentage of ladies participating in blind golf, so we’re excited to have more ladies involved. “These events will bring competitors and their coaches from all over Canada as well as from the USA, England, Scotland, Israel, and so forth. We can expect over 100 visitors participating in these events, and likely many more family and friends attending as well. Beyond the events, the communities will generate a lot of spin-off revenue for our visitors along with creating a lot of positive exposure for our communities.”
To host any event takes a lot of time, but also takes a lot of money to put one on. With three events being hosted in 2019, Douma has much work to do in getting organized, but also to fundraise to offset all costs and make these events successful. In the coming months, he will be out fundraising in all three communities of Creston, Cranbrook and Kimberley.
Local grocery stores will be hosting hot dog sales fundraisers on February 8-9.
“Our community has a large number of seniors who are likely dealing with the common cause of vision loss, which is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), he said. “We do have a low-vision community within our community, as does every area, for that matter. We want to make the low-vision community aware that CCB exists and that this National blind association is there to help and help in many ways. White Cane Week gives CCB an opportunity to get the word out there, while also still celebrating our abilities, rather than our disabilities”.
Douma added that there are many different ways to provide sponsorship support. If anyone is interested and would like more information, you can contact him at 250-428-8715.
