By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
An annual golf tournament in St. Joseph will help raise money for the Missouri veteran's home in Cameron.
The St. Joseph tournament is one of three to help raise money for things at the veterans home outside of what state budget money will fund.
Former State Representative and Buchanan County Clerk Pat Conway says one of the big efforts this year is a new transportation van
"So that you can take the veterans on an outing, they could come to St. Joseph, maybe even go to a baseball game, and that type of transportation isn't taken out of the state budget, you need to have some funding that can come from other sources," Conway tellls KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "So, they do things like that, they buy some exercise equipment or activity things for the veterans that they can use."
Conway says the event is very patriotic
"We'll have former veterans there, we will also have people who volunteer to help out at the courses," Conway explains. "But what we do, instead of having what the normal hole sponsor is, a $100 donation and honor a veteran who has served in the military in the United States."
Conway himself sponsors a hole in honor of his father who served during World War I.
Conway says the tournament will have a very heavy veteran presence
"We have gentleman who come in veterans' uniforms who hold the golf flag on the last tee and we meet a lot of the Vietnam veterans," Conway says.
Conway says people that come, especially first timers, will see how patriotic the event really is
"I think people who play it the first time realize that this is something about honoring the veterans and the patriotism of our country," Conway says.
The St. Joseph tournament will be held on July 18th and still has some spots open. A tournament will also be held in Maryville in August.
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