FELT Hosts 2nd Annual Golf Tournament at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Sarasota Sept. 23, 2013

BRADENTON – Feeding Empty Little Tummies (FELT), a Manatee County nonprofit that feeds Manatee County’s homeless school children, will host its 2nd annual golf tournament at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Sarasota on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. Registration is $125 per player available the day of the tournament beginning at 7:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 8:30. Registration includes green fee, cart, practice balls, a “Ritzy” cookout buffet, prizes and silent auction. Participation is limited to the first 128 entrants and is first come, first served.

Prizes are being offered for the longest drive, closest to the pin and for a hole-in-one, the prize of which is a 2013 black Nissan Pathfinder SUV with a retail value of $35,000 from Gettel Nissan of Sarasota.

Sponsorships also are available including the $1,500 (gold) level that covers four players and four lunches and the $750 (silver) level, which covers registration of two players and two lunches. Also available is packages for $150 including one hole signage and packages for $250 for two hole signage.

FELT serves 14 schools throughout Manatee County, providing homeless children with backpacks filled with enough food for complete meals for all weekend days and breaks from school when children often go hungry because they do not have access to the school lunch program.

Every week, volunteers fill donated backpacks with breakfasts, lunches and dinners, as well as nutritious snacks including fruit, vegetables, milk and bread then then deliver them to schools where they are discreetly dispensed to the students identified by the school board as being homeless. Mid-week, volunteers pick up the empty backpacks, refill them and the cycle continues.

“Events, such as this tournament, enable FELT to continue meeting its goals for providing nourishing food to thousands of children in our community,” said Jane Evers, founder of FELT. “We’re ever grateful for the efforts of all those who participate in and support this tournament, and because of these individual efforts and the continued support, we can clearly make a difference in the lives of many.”

All proceeds from the tournament go directly to purchase food for the backpack program; FELT’s operational and administrative expenses are just .005 percent of its entire budget.

All money raised for FELT’s backpack program is tax deductible. Donations also are being accepted.

For information about sponsoring or registering for the tournament, call Evers at 941-747-8804 or email Brian Parrish at Brian.Parrish@mybrighthouse.com.

For more information about FELT, visit http://www.feltinc.org/Home_Page.php.