The heat wave couldn’t stop these golfers. The 17th annual Ralph Phillips Memorial Golf Tournament took place June 16 sponsored by Phillips Tube Group, Inc.
In 1999, Ralph Phillips created the Phillips Family Foundation in efforts to support not only the Shelby community, but other areas as well. From the inception of the tournament, most of the organizations that received donations were those that helped the youth and senior citizens. This year, all proceeds are going to Boy Scouts of America Buckeye Council, Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland and Junior Achievement.
“One of our biggest things is this golf outing,” Phillips Tube Group CEO Angela Phillips, Ralph’s daughter and organizer, said. “It allows us to further reach within the community, and then help other people help those organizations that we feel are important.”
Some organizations are found and chosen to be donated to through the Shelby Foundation. “Other ones are requests that are made to our companies and then we filter those through the Phillips Family Foundation from there. So if it’s the community library, or schools, whoever, they know they can come to us and we’ll look at any requests that they have,” Phillips said.
Leaders of the impacted organizations are incredibly quick to express their gratitude and lend a helping hand. Bethany Rachel, Western Territory Program Manager of Junior Achievement, explains that they have been partners for a long time.
“It’s an honor that they see our job as important as we do and keep us out in the community changing these kids’ lives,” said Rachel.
“This event is an opportunity to be able to meet other industry leaders, meet some other people and make acquaintances, be outside in this beautiful weather, and really just say thank you for allowing us to be the recipients of the money they earn through this.” Development Manager Kristi Ackerman said.
Amy Heller, Director for the Buckeye Council, Boy Scouts of America, expressed her gratitude through her speech at the event. She has been an attendee of the event for seven years, but the involvement goes further back.
“I think we were one of the first organizations that partnered and worked with them to even get this started. We were on the ground level getting the golf outing together and helping and supporting that,” Heller said. “The family and the memorial is important in terms of ensuring that businesses and communities can engage and support community organizations for youth and families.”
The organization is excited to continue the tradition and is excited to see how things evolve.
“I’m proud of the fact that we continue to have the support locally and through our companies to be able to do this every year,” Phillips said.
