Jupiter – May 2009 – Long-time supporters and new friends rose to the challenge of helping local foster children and families at the Place of Hope’s 2009 Golf Invitational & Charity Dinner.

Held for the first time at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter. The event raised more than $600,000, all of which will go toward assisting abused and neglected children who have found a haven at Place of Hope.

Completely underwritten by hosts Mickey and Brenda Nocera of Palm Beach Gardens and Bethesda, Maryland; Christ Fellowship; the Wall Family of North Carolina; and Dean Morehouse of Palm Beach Gardens and Maryland, the golf invitational welcomed 18 teams to the 18-hole “Bear’s” course.

Morehouse took home bragging rights for a year, after he and his teammates Kenneth McLendon, Frank Gilmore and Robert Bennett placed first.

The evening before at the Charity Dinner, Tequesta resident Maudie Pande, her late husband Larry Pande and her family were honored with the creation of an award in their name for their generosity and support of Place of Hope.

“The children and families we serve and will continue to serve don’t care about the economy,” said Place of Hope Board President Mickey Nocera. “They want to be safe, secure, happy, cared for and educated. They want to know someone cares that they are in trouble and are here to help. Even as it becomes more of a challenge to give, there are some causes that we simply cannot afford not to give to.”

Place of Hope, one of the largest family-style child welfare organizations in Florida, provides emergency and long-term family-style foster care, family outreach and intervention, transitional housing and support services, adoption and foster care recruitment and support, and hope and healing opportunities for children and families throughout South Florida.

“Thanking our friends and their friends who support what we do never seems enough,” said Charles Bender, executive director of Place of Hope. “We depend upon the community to see what we see when it comes to them and that is a future filled with hope. Every dollar raised on the golf course brings them several steps closer to having a fulfilling future that is not dictated solely by what happened to them in their pasts.”

Sponsors of the 2009 Golf Invitational & Charity Dinner are Gold Sponsor HMS National and Barrie and Nancy Peterson; Amenity Bag Sponsors Maudie Pande, Tire Kingdom and Italian Rose Garlic Products; Tee Sponsors The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa, Jupiter, Henderson Financial Corporation, Capital Realty Advisors, Inc., Italian Rose Garlic Products, Bernstein Global Wealth Management, WTAS, LLC, Hobgood Construction, Palmdale Oil Company, Maudie Pande, Fetter Company and Groelle & Salmon; and Hole in One Prize Palm Beach Motor Cars.