Food, Fire and Flying Golf Balls

My personal record for length of a golf drive is 312 yards with a gentle breeze at my back under otherwise normal conditions. Once.

My new friend "Golf Pro Greg" Stafford can hit a drive that distance once every 15 seconds or so for an hour without really breaking a sweat. That’s why he’s got his eye on 300 such drives in one hour this Friday evening. That would be one 300+ yard drive every 12 seconds.

(Did I mention that I have one such drive in my spotty 41-year history of playing golf? Just wanted to make sure.)

Greg is dedicating his effort this Friday to raise awareness and funds for Springs Rescue Mission. We need that help now, as the fires in the area have diminished the flow of food and other resources into the Mission warehouse. But the bottom line is that our food shelves in the warehouse are pretty much bare between the needed diversion of resources to fire fighters and survivors just days ago and the regular traffic of neighbors in need of food boxes and hot meals at Samaritan’s Kitchen.

The funds raised at drives4lives.com will help restore the supply of food we need for regular distribution. Greg Stafford is deflecting a lot of the attention he could get as he attempts to regain his Guinness world record for most 300+ yard drives in one hour. If you could manage a $10 or $20 donation (maybe more) sometime in the next 72 hours on drives4lives.com, you could be a hero to our neighbors in need (700+ families each month) as you help us feed them.

Drives4lives.com. Just go there and give one of the suggested amounts, or just check the “other” box and give what you can.

That’s what I’m doing. I hope you can join me.

(Ok, so Greg hits a 300+ yard drive about every 12 seconds, and I hit one every 41 years whether I need to or not. Do the math…)

Drought Dodging

 Colorado’s Pikes Peak Region held its collective breath as the winter months reluctantly gave way to spring on the calendar. Overall, the area had again fallen way short on precipitation. Weather forecasters weren’t waiting for a hot summer stretch of weather to talk about drought. Drought was already a front-burner topic of conversation in February. It seemed that there had been no winter respite from it this year.

Then it snowed; late and not a lot, but enough to notice. And it snowed again, and again; rarely enough to overwhelm anyone with the thought that the drought was over, but enough to take courage that the moisture deficit wasn’t completely taking over. In recent weeks, it’s even rained. Sometimes it seems like the sky is spitting and nothing more. But a few times we’ve enjoyed those gentle hours-long soaking showers, and days where the ground may not have puddles forming but stayed wet all day.

No one’s saying the drought’s over, but there is hope.

Another kind of drought is a frequent visitor to rescue missions every year. It runs roughly from Easter to mid-September. It is during those months when the food on shelves in mission warehouses quickly becomes sparse and sometimes stays that way until the holiday season. Sometimes financial donations dry up, too, during these months.

Rescue missions do different things to cope with the season of drought.  This year, we are blessed with a variety of friends who are using their talents and community roles to stem the impact of the drought. Our local baseball team, the Colorado Springs SkySox, is using the stadium front gate as a collection point for food and more at every home game.  The Broadmoor is coordinating a benefit golf tournament to be held in a few weeks. A friend of the Mission is using his car wash business as a catalyst for a benefit event not long from now. And a local golf pro, Greg Stafford, is using a world record attempt for most 300-yard drives in an hour to raise funds for the Mission this summer (check out www.drives4lives.com sometime soon for details). That’s just the beginning of friends who are stepping up to help Springs Rescue Mission dodge the drought this year.

No one’s saying the drought’s over, but there is hope.