First Tee Sarasota/Manatee Holds Holiday Online Auction

BRADENTON, FL — For 20 years, First Tee Sarasota/Manatee (FTSM) has worked with children in the Sarasota and Bradenton areas, using the game of golf to inspire healthy life choices, teach life skills and and help them build character. To help fund its community efforts, the organization is hosting its first-ever major fundraiser, a holiday online auction that launched Nov. 9 and runs through Nov. 23.

Those interested can view and bid on the 16 packages being auctioned online here. Auction items include yacht cruises, a trip to Hilton Head Island, a stay at a southern Indiana resort, wine and liquor baskets, golf-themed packages and more.

The auction was organized as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Andy Mears, development director. FTSM staff and board members had hoped that 2020 would be a big year for the organization.

For two decades, the Sarasota/Manatee chapter had operated on a shoestring budget, he said said. FTSM had never had a development director before. It mostly raised funds through word-of-mouth and some small events.

“(They brought in) just enough to pay the bills and so they could have certified, carding adults instruct the children,” he said.

Even with little funding, the organization worked with more than 4,000 children each year, he said.

Mears joined the small team in April 2019, after working as the development director for the Chicago chapter for four years. With him on staff, the nonprofit shifted its focus to furthering its community reach and raising funds in 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic had other plans for the organization, though. Like many, nonprofits, much of its programming and fundraising plans were cancelled.

“Less than a year into (my joining the FTSM,) we were hit by COVID-19, and the world shut down, and all our plans for 2020 went out the window,” Mears said.

First Tee is a national organization based in St. Augustine and 175 chapters across the country. Though all chapters receive some grant funding from headquarters, each chapter functions on its own and is ultimately responsible for raising its own funds, he said.

With many of its planned in-person events and community outreach for the year “blown up because of coronavirus,” FTSM opted to host its first-ever online auction, Mears said.

“The online auction will help us right now,” he added. “We’ve been battered. Our funds are thing. We have to work hard to budget, be conservative with our spending and watch every penny. We need a shot in the arm and the online auction has been successful for other chapters. Hopefully, it will be for us, too.”

FTSM cancelled its spring programming because of the pandemic but was able to safely host its summer camps and fall after-school and weekend programs for children ages 4 to 17. These programs are held at Legacy Golf Club at Lakewood Ranch and Rosedale Golf and Country Club in Bradenton, and Serenoa Golf Club in Sarasota.

Mears is hopeful that FTSM will “get the wheels back on the track” in 2021. He said the organization’s plans for growth include hiring more coaches, as well as an outreach director, and expanding the number of golfing facilities it partners with. He’d like to see the nonprofit reach more children in the Venice area and further their impact on the community's youth.

“Foremost, we’re a youth development organization. Our goal is to create good golfers, but more importantly, better people,” Mears said. “We really want to instill life skills in them… We’re really trying to help them build self-esteem and learn to get along with others and learn to play the great game of golf. There’s so much inherent value to it. There are so many life lessons — honesty, courtesy — and we hope they carry that with them.”

Learn more about First Tee Sarasota/Manatee online here.