Great Barrington — With its upcoming October 18 annual golf tournament at Great Barrington’s Wyantenuck Country Club, Friends of Moe is counting on the event’s revenues to help the nonprofit organization give back to the southern Berkshires community.
Randy Koldys heads up the group that provides medical-related financial assistance to beneficiaries from Sharon, Conn., all the way up to Becket, including defraying medical costs stemming from vehicle accidents, paying for travel costs associated with treatments for disease, or even buying a much-needed wheelchair to ease the mobility of a frail loved one.
Since its inception in 2010, Friends of Moe has raised and awarded more than $365,000 in such aid.
“We’re just looking forward to having a great year,” said Koldys, a Great Barrington resident.
The tournament is in memory of Maureen “Moe” Snyder, who passed away in 2003 from complications from leukemia, leaving partner Koldys and two young children. The event has become so popular that Koldys has had to turn away five teams for the upcoming tournament.
“In a day and age where you can’t believe a lot of things you see in the world, on TV, and different places, the one thing that restores my faith in the human race is the community that we live in—up and down Berkshire County, from Pittsfield all the way down to Falls Village, Conn., where we’ve given recipients,” he said. “Everybody comes out. It’s not really a golf tournament; it’s more of a community day for us, which is a pretty cool thing to see.”
This year, 144 golfers are registered for team play that begins at 9 a.m., with a raffle open to the public from noon to 4 p.m., ending in a spaghetti and meatball dinner. As in past years, Stockbridge’s Main Street Café chef Stacey VanDeusen will donate her talents to preparing the meal.
Although a waitlist is available for the competition due to loyal teams who sign up each year, interested participants are invited to the raffle, with a limited number of spaces available for the dinner.
“We have several people who now help us out whose families were recipients somewhere along the line,” Koldys said. “I think that’s the greatest part of things.”
He spoke of the appreciation given to the organization by beneficiaries. “We’ve had so many recipients and families that say, ‘Listen, without you guys, we might not have gotten through the winter, we might not have been able to travel to as much to Boston as we did for treatments or New York City,’” Koldys said.
For more information or to register for the tournament waitlist and dinner, contact Randy Koldys at rkoldys2004@yahoo.com.
