Raising funds and reuniting

Three generations of Our Lady of Grace (OLG) alumni hit the links Monday, August 27 for OLG’s annual golf tournament fundraiser. From 8 a.m. until almost 3 p.m., golfers drove and putted their way through 18 holes at Forest Park.
The Caffarone group, consisting of Doug Caffarone, Frank Cappa, Frank Pizzo and Joseph Licari, won the tournament by shooting 14 under par, edging the Connolly family in a tiebreaker.
For most golfers, however, the results were just side notes. The tournament’s real value, said OLG grad Danny Gillis, was in the camaraderie.
“It’s meeting people, seeing all the generations of golfers,” said Gillis, who was sidelined this year due to surgery. Gillis still attended the tournament to watch friends, and said, “I wouldn’t miss it. I’d be playing if I could.”
The tournament began 15 years ago, when Howard Beach resident and OLG grad Stephen Connolly decided he wanted to organize a fundraiser that could double as a class reunion.
“It was created both for the purpose of raising money, and as a reunion,” said Connolly. “If one of those two outweighed the other, it wasn’t going to work. If we raise a lot of money but the reunion aspect falters, it’s no good. If we get everyone back and they all have a good time, but we don’t raise a lot of money, that doesn’t work either. We have to find that balance.”
Connolly said he and other organizers achieve the balance by keeping costs low. This encourages high attendance. What funding the tournament fails to raise through admission costs, it makes up for in raffles. In 15 years, it has raised over $850,000. This year’s tournament raised $60,000. “It doesn’t make any difference who wins,” said Caffarone. “It’s just about seeing people from the neighborhood.”
Paul Belfiore, a native of Naples, Italy, has lived in Howard Beach for 33 years and put two kids through OLG.
“It’s fun,” said Belfiore. “It’s for the kids. [Other golfers] make fun of me because this is my first time golfing, but it’s still fun.”
Belfiore didn’t fare well on the course, but it hardly bothered him.
“I guess I can’t quit my day job,” he said. Steve Holihan, a member of OLG’s class of 1983, said he has no aspirations of winning the tournament.
“I have very few aspirations in life,” he quipped. “It’s just nice to see everyone. Everyone knows each other.”
“Everyone in Howard Beach is sort of intertwined,” added Gillis. “I joke that you can never talk about anyone in Howard Beach, because someone listening knows the person.”
Gillis points to the Martin family - father Dennis, and sons D.J., Richard, Damien and Michael - as an example of the tournament’s unifying nature.
“The whole family comes out to play together,” said Gillis. “When else do you find the time to do things like that?”
“I only see these people once a year,” said OLG Board member Tom Rowland. “This is the time.”
Rowland said he was looking forward to the cocktail hour at Russo’s on the Bay, the traditional follow-up to each year’s tournament.
“It’s a great time,” said Rowland. “And when it ends, I’ll immediately start looking forward to next year’s.”