By Carlee Gettman
The 14th annual Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation (MC-LEF) Golf Tournament, recently held at SouthShore Country Club Lake Las Vegas, raised $134,000 for the charity, and was its only fundraising golf tournament across the country this year.
SouthShore members and residents Mike Tobey and Vern Jennings organized the tournament with support from the club and community. Tobey founded the tournament 15 years ago and Jennings joined him in 2015. The have helped raised more than $1.8 million locally for MC-LEF, an organization that provides college scholarships and humanitarian aid to children of U.S. Marines and federal law enforcement officers who are killed in the line of duty. Founded in 1995, MC-LEF has distributed more than $75 million in scholarships to students throughout the country.
“We have put on this tournament for the past 14 years because we are huge supporters of our veterans, armed forces and law enforcement,” said Tobey, who is also a Marine Corps veteran. “We feel there is no better way to demonstrate that than helping provide for their children when they are killed in the line of duty.”
This year’s MC-LEF tournament hosted 100 golfers with 120 total in attendance. Tobey said approximately 85 percent of participants are regular supporters and 70 percent were SouthShore residents. SouthShore Country Club is the first private Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in Nevada. The 6,925-yard award-winning course was built in 1996 and provides hundreds of residents with year-round golfing opportunities. SouthShore Country Club has hosted the tournament for many years and is a major partner. This year, the club introduced its own foundation, SouthShore Country Club Foundation, that donated $10,000 to MC-LEF.
Tobey said 96% of money raised from the tournaments goes directly to the charity. “I don’t know of another charity there is that there are only 4% administrative charges,” he said. “We don’t have a full-time employee. Just a part-time secretary…and I am just very impressed with this whole organization.”
Jennings said SouthShore’s support over the years has helped raise important funds to provide deserving students with college scholarships. “Mike and I are very pleased with the support we’ve received over the years from SouthShore,” said Jennings. “We are delighted this year that they donated $10,000 in addition to their continued partnership.”
Tobey, who founded the tournament in 2005 with Jim Sierk, and Jennings, who began volunteering in 2005, volunteer all of their time for the tournaments. “We do it for 2 reasons,” he said. “We are huge supporters of our veterans, armed forces and law enforcement and feel there is no better way of demonstrating that than helping provide for their children when they are killed in the line of duty.”
Marine Corps- Law Enforcement Foundation was organized in 1995 by Sargent Major Pete Haas The organization raises money to provide scholarships for children of members of the US Marine Corps and law enforcement who are killed in the line of duty. MC-LEF’s mission is to educate the children of those who have sacrificed everything for this country. For more information about the Marine Corps- Law Enforcement Foundation, visit https://www.mc-lef.org.
