The Thank-A-Veteran organization hosted its 12th annual golf tournament with about 140 participants at Sand Canyon Country Club on Monday.
Nancy Butler, founder of the Thank-A-Veteran organization, decided to start the organization because most of her family were in the military, and she wanted to honor them in some way.
Butler said she was also a big fan of golf, and thus, the Thank-A-Veteran golf tournament was born.
“It’s been amazing. And, you know, the guys, the veterans play for free. And they get breakfast, lunch and dinner besides playing golf. And we were just so excited to have them here to be able to say thank you for their service,” Bulter said as she was cruising around the course in a golf cart.
During the sunny morning, Butler greeted every person who was playing and gave them hugs, water or even some food in case they were hungry, all with a smile on her face.
Starting the planning of the tournament in December, Bulter meets with the board of the organization to unpack what worked and what did not, what to improve for the next year and so forth.
“I send out a flyer in May and by July, it’s filled. And then as it gets a little closer, there are some cancellations, but I always have a wait list,” Butler said.
Mike Wright, an Army veteran, served from 1982 to 1986. He spent two years in Germany and two years at Fort Riley, in Kansas.
Wright said that he decided to come to the tournament because it was “the least he could do” due to honor the sacrifice veterans make.
“You know I only put four years in … and there was no war going on back then, so it was easy. These guys had a rough time,” Wright said, referring to other veterans.
One thing Wright said he enjoyed was being with other veterans during the tournament.
“It’s just great. Like, we’re swapping stories with some of these guys, the guys in front of us. He was stationed in Hawaii, you know, so you just, you meet all kinds of people and see,” Wright said.
Wright said that the community needs to support veterans.
“Just, we need to support all these guys, especially the guys that have been over to Afghanistan, Iraq, all that. It’s different. It’s just completely different than what I went through, and I’m minimizing that, but that’s, they put a lot of sacrifices in,” Wright said.
Willie Ellerbrock, a Marine Corps veteran and retired master gunnery sergeant, said being at the golf tournament was a time to reflect. He entered the Marine Corps on Sept. 21, 1981, and retired in September 2012 after 31 years of service.
“It’s nice to stop and reflect and really look at some individuals that I feel are more deserving of me, of having this day out here. There’s a lot of Vietnam veterans here that didn’t get the same treatment that I had, in my experience with Desert Storm, Grenada, Beirut, and also Iraq and Afghanistan,” Ellerbrock said. “But to see these guys, especially the Vietnam veterans, I love saying, ‘welcome home’ to them, because they never really got that opportunity. For me it is paying respects to them as a reverence to them.”
Ellerbrock said that celebrating the less than 1% of people who enlist is an honor.
“And to see someone step up is the least I can do to thank these individuals who stood up at different times in their generation, other generation, my generation, who I stood up in, raise their hand and pledge to honor and take care of our country and our Constitution,” Ellerbrock said.
Ken Hasler, a board member of the organization, wanted to give Butler kudos for all her hard work on the tournament.
“At the first (tournament), she and the other board members were putting in our own money. We had no sponsors … and then the people who came out and saw what we were doing were impressed, and so we picked up sponsors along the way,” Hasler said.
Hasler added that seeing the camaraderie among the veterans is nice.
“The veterans, we’re going to meet in a big banquet here at the end of this. And you will hear laughter and chatter, and all the old war stories that are coming up. And you had to take those with a grain of salt,” Hasler said.
Chi Kanagi, one of the volunteers at the event, wanted to emphasize the importance of veterans.
“I think it’s important that we understand that there are people out there that are so much in support of these veterans and that we’re just really happy that they’re all here having a good time and being able to be together and seeing that,” Kanagi said.
