Tournament Raises $216,000 for Cardiac Care
Photo (L-R): Lianne Laing, vice president of philanthropy at the Ottawa Heart Institute and president of the Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation, Colin Zappia, and Elizabeth Roscoe, board chair of the Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation. Photo by Caroline Phillips.
Ottawa, ON – The 2nd Annual Wilbert Keon Memorial Golf Tournament took place at the regal, storied Royal Ottawa Golf Club on July 10, 2023. The event raised a record of nearly $216,000 attracting 180 golfers on the 18- and 9-hole courses, as well as numerous corporate sponsors, donors and volunteers. Colin Zappia, a Sutton Broker, volunteered as chair of the tournament committee.
His exceptional commitment to fundraising for the Ottawa Heart Institute stems from a desire to honour his father, who passed away from a heart attack at the age of 60. Colin has organized multiple fundraisers including the first tournament in 2022, which raised $190,000. This year’s astounding success was due to multiple factors.
“Moving to the Royal Ottawa Golf Club this year certainly helped push us higher,” Colin says. “We had to apply and won the bid over eight other charities to host the tournament at one of Canada's oldest golf courses. We had an unbelievable volunteer committee (14 members in total) who worked their networks over the past 10 months to make it all happen. We also enjoyed strong support from the great staff at the Heart Institute, specifically Lindsay Firestone and Vanessa Gomes.
Colin is grateful to the many business and community leaders who took part; the corporate partners who helped to offset some of the cost incurred in putting this major event; and the donors who provided amazing items for the silent and live auctions that raised more than $20,000. Overall, it was an excellent day for 144 golfers on the main course and 36 people on the 9-hole course in this sold-out event.
Sutton Ottawa showed support as a partner on one of the par 3 holes (staffed by Christy-Ann Drouin and Ann Jensen of the Your Home is Here Team) while three other Sutton employees played in the 9-hole event: JP Chartrand, Managing Broker; Jeff Birchmore; and Jonathan Talbot-Kelly.
This tournament is named after Dr Wilbert Keon, who co-founded the Heart Institute in 1976. It is now the largest cardiac care and prevention centre in the country conducting research and delivering patient care including 2,000 open heart procedures annually.
To connect with Colin, visit: https://www.yourhomeishere.ca.
Sutton is a 100% Canadian-owned and operated company with more than 6,500 REALTORS® in over 200 offices nationwide. To find out more about Sutton, visit www.sutton.com. To learn more about Sutton Spirit, visit www.suttonspirit.com.
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Sutton Group - Ottawa Realty:
Colin Zappia
613-868-3311
czappia@sutton.com
Sutton Group Realty Services Ltd.:
Maria Castro
604-691-1689
stories@suttonspirit.com