by Bridgewater Tribune

How fast days turn to months and months to years and before you know it, My Fishing Pond Inc has been serving the community around a 100 mile radius for 10 years! This not only took hard work from the Board of Directors but many volunteers, businesses, individual donors, foundations, banks, golf courses, different shows, etc, and the generosity of people from South Dakota and other states.

     The Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Golfing and Shot Gun (one with A1 Al’s hunt) raffles has kept us operating most of the years. Now we even have a fundraiser for a “Welcome Bear” made by the “Chainsaw Man” Mark Kurtz from Albany, MN. This fundraiser bear is currently displayed at Rookies’ Bar in Alexandria, SD. The bear was donated by Ted Hofer of Freeman, SD. Ted also started My Fishing Pond Inc in the 1st Golfing Beat Ball in 2009. That year we only had 7 teams. First place went to Merchants State Bank of Freeman, SilverStone Group from Sioux Falls 2nd place and Farmers State Bank of Bridgewater took 3rd. Knowing that it takes time to get more teams to play in a charitable 501C3 non-profit organization, we grew to 9 in 2010. That year, Brad Goldstine’s team won 1st place, Merchants State Bank 2nd and Farmers State Bank 3rd. There is a nice traveling trophy for the First Place Team to keep for the year. With help from KQRN, KMIT, Bridgewater Tribune, Anderson Publications, Valley View Golf Course, and Kinko’s from Sioux Falls, we ended up with 11 teams this year. Merchants State Bank (Ted Hofer’s team), having a great passion for golfing, won the trophy back for this year. Farmers State Bank took 2nd and Goldstine’s team 3rd. The rest of the golfers had a great time and enjoyed the food from Chef Dave at Valley View.

     We were happy to see 44 golfers at the course, some were long time friends of the Pond; others were new comers. We hope to see everyone back next year. Everyone won pin prizes: Longest Drive-Phil Collins (2 sleeves of balls); Closest to the pin-Rebecca Herman ($20 The Depot gift card); Shortest Drive-Dean Van Emmerick (Scheels hat and t-shirt); Closest in 2-Jim Miller (troublelight); Longest Putt- Carol Nickels (golfbag); Closest to the pin-Jordan Schwans (drill bit set); Closest to the water-Brian Clem (car emergency kit).

     If you have a great team come out July 21, 2012, and try your best at beating the best. You will also be helping the Pond stay open.
     Team Sponsor was Total Stop, Emery. Hole Sponsors: Rev. Melvin Koehn, Sioux Falls; Fred Haar Co Inc, Freeman; Preston R Olson, Bridgewater; First Dakota National Bank, Mitchell;  Floor to Ceiling, Mitchell. Prize sponsors were: Marty Schulte, Emery; A-Ox Welding Supply, Mitchell; Depot Pub & Grill, Mitchell; Napa, Sioux Falls; Pizza Ranch, Sioux Falls; End Zone Bar and Grill; Pirogues BBQ, Mitchell; La Fiesta, Sioux Falls; TC Referee Sports Bar & Grill, Sioux Falls; Ruby Tuesday, Sioux Falls; Red Lobster, Sioux Falls; Perkins, Sioux Falls and Mitchell; Dominos Pizza, Sioux Falls; Scheels, Sioux Falls; Austad’s Sioux Falls; Hallmark, Mitchell; Reeds Walker, MN; Leader Sporting Goods, Mitchell; Great Outdoor Store, Sioux Falls; Sun Gold Trophies, Mitchell; Sportsmans Pub, White Lake; Pro Build, Mitchell and Tractor Supply, Mitch

Winning the 4 Person Scramble Golf Tournament for a second time was the Ted Hofer team from Merchant's State Bank

My Fishing Pond had a good turnout for their annual Golf Fundraiser on Saturday, July 16th. 44 golfers were on hand to enjoy the day and support the pond.