Dougherty Sheriff’s Office raises money for youth programs through golf tournament

ALBANY — The eighth annual Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office Unity in the Community Golf Tournament is scheduled for April 10 at River Pointe Golf Club.

The tournament is organized by Sheriff Kevin Sproul and the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention and Intervention Unit. All proceeds benefit the office’s youth programs.

“I tell everybody if they want to come out and get second place through 18th place, it’s all available,” said Sproul. “Seriously, though, this is our Unity in the Community tournament we host every year in April. This year it is on April 10 and begins at 1 p.m. at River Pointe. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m. with lunch provided at noon.”

According to Sproul, the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention and Intervention Unit strives to inform and educate the citizens of Dougherty County about crime and violence through forums and workshops, which include resources to guide and assist parents and children who may have given up on a better life.

“This tournament helps with all the activities that the Crime Prevention and Intervention Unit works during the year,” the sheriff said. “Lt. Teron Hayes heads that unit up. We take the money that we make off of this tournament, and we use it for our summer camp that we have hosted every year since I have been sheriff.

“We also use the funds for our back-to-school shopping program with some of our less fortunate kids. Then we use proceeds to go toward our October Unity in the Community barbecue that we have every year and also our Shop With the Sheriff Christmas program.”

Sproul said that by hosting the charity events, proceeds are raised without having to rely on state or county money for the programs.

“This enables us to have resources available without having to use hard-working people’s tax dollars,” he said. “We don’t have the opportunity to use that type of money anyway, and we wouldn’t want to do that. So we have donations from people in the community. It has been a very big tournament. We have moved around a little. We have had it at Stonebridge, we have had it at Doublegate, and we are back at River Pointe this year.”

Various levels of sponsorship and participation are available. For more information, contact Hayes at (229) 431-2166.

“We have also used some of our resources this year to help some of the displaced families from the January storms,” Sproul said. “Lt. Hayes has worked closely with a couple of the elementary schools in East Albany, especially helping children get some cloths on their backs and some food in their refrigerators. We have kind of done that under the radar.”

Fees are $70 or $280 per team, which includes green fees, cart, range balls, lunch and beverages.