HOW WE SEE IT Kudos For Tourney’s Impact

For area golf fans, the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers represents a rare chance to see outstanding talent in a game that’s both exciting and frustrating.

For promoters of the region, the Ladies Professional Golf Association event draws coveted attention and visitors.

And for several nonprofi t organizations, the event means signifi cant contributions that can change lives.

The prime example related to this year’s golf championship was the Walmart Foundation’s$500,000 grant to an organization called Dress for Success.

According to the organization, its mission is to promote the “economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.”

The foundation gave $475,000 to the worldwide organization’s work to establish 15 career centers across the United States and $25,000 for the recently established Northwest Arkansas aff liate in Rogers.

But the event creates opportunities to help other organizations, such as the donation of more than 1.5 tons of Kraft food and a $10,000 donation from the tournament and Kraft to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. The Benton County and Fayetteville Boys & Girls Clubs split a $15,000 donation in support of helping about 1,000 young people between the two counties live healthier and productive lives while developing character and leadership skills.

Last year, Goodwill Industries received a $350,000 donation as a result of the tournament.

Several other organizations have also benefi ted.

Some will say it’s only a golf tournament, but it’s clearly more than that.

The event draws an impressive roster of today’s top talent in the women’s golf circuit, but more importantly, it draws attention to some worthy causes.

The Walmart NW Championship is around for only a brief period, but its organizers are making sure its eftects are being felt year-round. Before the golfers and organizers depart from another year of success, we wanted to say congratulations on a great event and thank you for the dift erencemaking contributions made possible through your eft orts.