By Sally Velcofsky

Catholic Charities wrapped up another successful Golf Tournament at Great Neck Country Club on September 13th, 2021.  We were blessed with a beautiful day to host 92 golfers, including Bishop Michael Cote, Monsignor Les Janik, and Father Kevin Reilly of St. Patrick’s Church in Mystic.

The festivities kicked off at 11:00 with registration and a delicious BBQ lunch.  Through the generosity of many local individuals and businesses, we were able to offer a large array of raffle items as well as several silent auction items.  In addition, the golfers were able to help themselves to a hand-rolled cigar from Connecticut Cigar Company, before heading out to the course.  A big thank you to A Beautiful Company, General Contractors for sponsoring this special feature of the tournament. 

MJ Sullivan provided a beautiful Buick Enclave for the Hole-in-One sponsor this year.  Closest to the Pin was sponsored by Waller, Smith and Palmer, and St. Patrick’s Church in Mystic.  Longest Drive was sponsored by Impellitteri-Malia Funeral Home and the Practice Green was sponsored by Norwich Ophthalmology Group/NORWICHLASIK.Com. In addition, we had 12 Tee sponsors from local businesses and parishes throughout the Diocese support our event. 

Corporate Sponsors included our Platinum Sponsors ShopRite of New London and Norwich and Harp and Dragon of Norwich. Gold Sponsors were Conway, Londregan & Sheehan, P.C. and Tito’s Handmade Vodka.  Bronze Sponsors were Castaldi Financial Solutions, Inc. and Crest Mechanical Services.  In addition, an unexpected surprise came when Dave and Ann Mortimer, the owners of Great Neck Country Club, presented Catholic Charities with a very generous donation that day!

Moreover, this year’s tournament was bitter-sweet with the sudden passing of Ralph Monaco a few months ago.  Ralph served on the Catholic Charities Board of Directors and originated this tournament 16 years ago. To honor Ralph’s legacy, we all wore green ribbons for “Ribbons for Ralph”.  Fast Signs donated a beautiful poster with pictures of Ralph from previous tournaments.  Players from Ralph’s former law firm, Conway, Londregan & Sheehan all wore New York Giants hats with Ralph’s initials to honor their former colleague and we were most honored to have Ralph’s wife, Dina, join us at the tournament. Bishop Cote gave a touching speech honoring Ralph and presenting her with a beautiful bouquet before kicking off the tournament. Ralph’s presence was definitely felt all day.

Overall, the tournament was a huge success. However, we couldn’t have done it without the support and generosity of all our volunteers, our sponsors, local businesses, Brian Langley and Kevin Shea at Great Neck County Club, and all our golfers.  To all of you, we express our most sincere appreciation.