By Chad Hershberger
Building the Evergreen Center, as you might imagine, was a big undertaking. In addition to all the planning of what the building would look like and contain inside, we also had to raise the funds to build it. If we were constructing that building today, it would cost twice as much as it did back in the early 2000s.
We knew we needed some expertise in fundraising and so we asked Bob Zimmerman if he would be our campaign chair. Bob is a well-known car dealer in Sunbury and a long-time Lutheran who had been involved in synod and camp leadership.
As we were raising the funds for Evergreen, Bob suggested we hold a golf tournament. Not being a golfer, I had no idea how one would go about that, but Bob did. He did a lot of the leg work to get our first tournament up and running. It was held in May 2006.
I learned a lot that day. I had never been to a golf tournament, let alone we part of the planning. It proved to be a valuable way to raise funds for our campaign, 40 By Faith, and we decided to do it again.
On May 12, 2025, we will hold our 20th Bishop’s Open Golf Classic. So far, we have raised about $285,000 for camp. The first few years, proceeds went to the Evergreen Center. We then switched it to the Annual Fund, which helps us keep camper fees affordable.
We did not keep track of how many individuals have golfed over those years. We usually get between 80-120. We do some of our golfers have played in all 19 tournaments and plan to play this year. Five sponsors have contributed each of the last 19 years and we expect them to do the same this year: Kreamer Feed, Lamar Advertising, Purdy Insurance, Sunbury Motors, and Zimmerman Motors. We are also putting together a slide show of pictures over the years from all our tournaments to show this year.
There is still time to sign up to golf or be a sponsor for this year’s event. Be a part of this amazing 20-year history.
You can learn more about the event here. And you can register here!
Hope to see you on the course in May!