Tumble Brook Country Club’s ‘Play for a Cure’ raised $85,000 in Support of Susan G. Komen Connecticut.

Submitted by Elizabeth DiMartino, Susan G. Komen Connecticut

L to R: Monica Gold, Diane Greenfield, Amy Levin, and Denise Delaney present Nicole Marohn, Development Director for Susan G. Komen Connecticut, with a check for $85,000, proceeds from Tumble Brook Country Club’s Play for a Cure. Submitted photo

Diane Greenfield, Amy Levin, Monica Gold – all of West Hartford – and Denise Delaney recently presented Susan G. Komen Connecticut with a check for $85,000, proceeds from the Tumble Brook Country Club 18th annual Play for a Cure, bringing the lifetime total to more than $1.6 million.

Play for a Cure is a member’s only event held each June at the club located in Bloomfield. Tumble Brook Country Club is the single largest contributor to Komen Connecticut, a non-profit organization supporting the local fight against breast cancer.

“The consistent support from Tumble Brook Country Club, their management, staff and members is inspiring,” said Lori van Dam, Interim CEO for Komen Connecticut. “Connecticut has the highest incidence of breast cancer in the United States and that is not a distinction we want to maintain. If we all continue to work together, I am confident that we will one day end breast cancer forever.”

In 1997 after losing two dear friends to breast cancer, Diane Greenfield and the Women’s Golf Committee of Tumble Brook Country Club presented their concept of the “Play for a Cure” to the Board of Directors. They recognized that breast cancer is a family disease and enlisted the support of the entire membership, both men and women. Their support has been unwavering and grown through the years. In addition to a golf tournament, Play for a Cure includes a tennis tournament, a card tournament, a tea cup auction and a live auction conducted by WTIC-FM’s Damon Scott.

This year’s event also featured a challenge between Howie Friday, head golf pro and Rich Varrato, assistant golf pro, to see who could play more golf holes, get more pars, more birdies and raise more money. They played 110 holes of golf – some in the rain – in a single day raising $8,000. On Thursday, Oct. 8, Friday had his head shaved as per the terms of the challenge.

Seventy-five percent of Komen Connecticut’s net proceeds is used to support local breast cancer programs across Connecticut with the remaining twenty-five percent invested in research to find the causes and cures for the disease. This year in Connecticut, Komen Connecticut will fund more than $1 million in breast cancer education, screening and treatment and invest over $400,000 in breast cancer research. To date, Komen Connecticut has funded more the $23 million in local programs.

For more information about Komen Connecticut’s mission and how to get involved, visit KomenCT.org.