Tournament to raise money for two local charities helping families affected by health crises
A champion of education, Dr. Lori Hunter left her mark not only in her field but also in the lives and hearts of everyone she met. Hunter, who resided in Glastonbury until 2009, died in January 2014 at age 55 after a long, courageous battle with breast cancer. The annual, local golf tournament in her honor, the 2023 Skins and Pins Lori Hunter Memorial Golf Tournament, will be held at Tumble Brook Country Club in Bloomfield on Saturday, October 14.
Hunter, an avid golfer, was a founding member of the Avon-based Skins and Pins Golf Club and Tour. The club, in conjunction with sister organization, The Legacy Foundation of Hartford, is sponsoring the 9-hole golf tournament, which will include a pre-tournament clinic at 1 p.m. with a 2 p.m. tee off. The Skins and Pins Pretty in Pink tournament bearing her name will raise funds for two designated local charities this year: Gardner’s House and Healing Meals Community Project. While Gardner’s House has received a total of $30,000 from the tournament proceeds as a recipient for several years, this year both organizations will share the $10,000 donation.
Maggie Gardner, Founder, CEO, and President of Gardner’s House, a two-time breast cancer survivor herself, understands the challenges both those battling the illness and their families face. Her nonprofit organization provides financial assistance to such families to cover essential life necessities, including rent and mortgage payments, utilities, food, medication, and transportation.
Gardner says in addition to these necessities, her Hartford-based organization also fills the fundamental need of providing hope. Gardner says she was inspired to launch the organization in 2007 after her breast cancer had returned a second time and having to undergo a double mastectomy without medical insurance or a support system around her. “When you help other people, it helps you to get well, and that’s what saved me,” she said. “Hope is what got me through it. Having somebody in your corner makes the world of difference.”
Sarah Leathers, Founder and CEO of Simsbury-based Healing Meals Community Project, agrees. Her organization serves families facing prolonged health crises. The nonprofit provides 12 weeks of prepared meals to families identified through hospitals, social workersNFL to give 7,500 vaccinated health care workers free tickets to Super Bowl LV! Will Golf do this for any of their Events?, and other referral agencies. Part of Healing Meals’ mission is also getting local students involved to learn not only about healthy eating, but also about helping others as part of a larger, more selfless purpose.
“In the world that we live in today, they put their cell phones away for two to three hours. They’re focusing on someone else,” says Leathers. “They find that sense of purpose and belonging. It matters that they show up — that they are part of our community.”
Leathers says thanks to the generous donation from the Legacy Foundation, Healing Meals will also partner with Gardner’s House to assist that organization in supporting its families dealing with cancer. Leathers says this interconnectedness is what she tries to instill in the student volunteers.
“They have an opportunity of feeling loved and cared for while they’re loving and caring for others,” says Leathers. “There’s a ripple effect.”
Hunter’s illustrious career included 14 years working as a computer systems engineer at Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, before becoming an assistant dean at Syracuse University, and later as Associate Dean of Continuing Studies and Director of the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University, and Associate Vice Chancellor at North Carolina A & T State University before she retired in 2012. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in education at Harvard University and a PhD in education at Syracuse. An avid cook, Hunter also founded the popular Glastonbury-based Sweet and Savory Creations, LLC in 2000.
Hunter’s legacy lives on through the Pretty in Pink Memorial Golf Tournament and the charities it supports. Various sponsorship opportunities for the Pretty in Pink golf tournament are available, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. Donations are also welcome. All donations made through The Legacy Foundation of Hartford — a 501(c)(3) organization — are tax deductible.
ABOUT THE SKINS AND PINS GOLF CLUB AND TOUR
The Skins and Pins Golf Club and Tour (www.skinsandpinstour.com) is a golf club and related golf tour comprised of friendly match play and stroke play competitions open to all skill levels primarily in Connecticut and New England. In addition to benefiting from the camaraderie and competition with peers, the Tour creates a venue for substantive relationship building, educational and informational sessions related to general life discussions and golf, and supporting charitable causes whose mission and goals are consistent with the objectives of the Skins and Pins Golf Club.
