Eight City of Sacramento and eight County of Sacramento elected officials hosted their second annual Capital Cup Challenge and finished up the fundraising to help kick off the construction of a Life and Golf Skills Practice Golf Academy at Hiram Johnson High School being built by the Morton Golf Foundation. The community services project funds raised will be used for the construction project installing Phase 1 of the Stadium Concept project which will benefit all students in the Hiram Johnson neighborhood. The Hiram Johnson community will have opportunity to participate not only in after-school golf programs but also throughout the summer months.
Says Tom Morton, Morton Golf Foundation President, “We’re so excited to build the Hiram Johnson High School golf facility project, allowing that area’s community a place to not only learn the game and its values, but have a safe place to be during non-school hours. This is a game-changer and we are beyond pleased to have made this dream a reality.”
“Tom was asking me, for my opinion, on how they could expand The First Tee offerings at Haggin Oaks,” said Rob Fong, who served on the Sacramento City Council for eight years, from 2004 to 2012. “These golf programs use the game of golf to teach the game of life and are very strong. Golf can really open up a whole new world to people who might otherwise never know that those basics existed.”
“All of these golf programs for kids are always based at a golf course. Fong said, ‘What if we did something completely not at a golf course, in an underserved community, where kids could just kind of get themselves there? Are there any models, where you actually make the facility at a school, in a neighborhood, so that neighborhood kids could just walk there or ride their bikes? They don’t need parents to drop them off and monitor them. In other words, sort of bring the services to the community, instead of having the community find the services,” said Fong.
“We’ve been working on it conceptually for a long time. But we finally really got traction and we’re very close to breaking ground and getting the facility built,” said Fong, who has his own business, RKF Consulting, where he works as a consultant and a lobbyist.
“It’s going to be open for all the kids in the community, sort of surrounding Hiram Johnson. Elementary school kids, middle school kids, high school kids. It’s going to be an after-school program and a summer program, so that kids can go there and learn golf and learn about the game of life,” said Fong.
“We’re working very closely with the school district to make sure we’re doing everything right. The school district is actually partnering with us on this. They’re working with us, so it’s a real collaboration,” finished Fong.
The goal is to start construction on Phase 1 in Spring or Summer of 2021.
Please take a moment and watch the video at https://youtu.be/OxR4uStkpSE
About the Morton Golf Foundation:
In 2008, the owners of Morton Golf LLC and a group of community golf advocates decided as part of their community outreach to create a 501c3 charitable entity to financially help underserved golf organizations that are in need as well as programs for the disabled and youth within the Sacramento Region. After going through the normal lengthy process to acquire an IRS Tax Exempt Status, The Morton Golf Foundation (MGF) was born in 2010. Over the first ten years of existence by the Morton Golf Foundation, 97% of all net revenues have been made available for grants and scholarships.
Within the first ten years of the MGF, it has given more than a million dollars to several deserving programs that partially include American Heart Saving Strokes Program, Society for the Blind, Boys and Girls Clubs, Center for Fathers and Families, Latino Jr. Golf Program, Northern California Minority Jr. Golf Scholarship Association, Rocklin Little Thunder Jr. Golf Programs, Special Olympics and more. The Morton Golf Foundation has provided hundreds of college scholarships as well as financial support to local youth golfers that are in need. Funds come from local donations, memorials and special events. The major fundraiser each year is the Golf & Guitars Music Festival held in May of each year.
Special thanks to the following Sacramento officials for their invaluable work to help fund this project.
CITY TEAM
- Mayor Darrell Steinberg
- Assemblymember Kevin McCarty
- Councilmember Rob Fong, Ret.
- Councilmember Eric Guerra
- Councilmember Lauren Hammond, Ret.
- Councilmember Rick Jennings
- Councilmember Jay Schenirer
- Councilmember Steve Cohn, Ret.
COUNTY TEAM
- Supervisor Patrick Kennedy
- Supervisor Sue Frost
- SMUD Board Director Gregg Fishman
- SMUD Board Director Nancy Bui-Thompson
- SCOE, Brian Cooley, Ret.
- SJUSD, Richard Launey, Ret.
- Elk Grove Councilmember Stephanie Nguyen
- Sac City School Boardmember Darrell Woo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ken Morton, Jr Morton Golf ,LLC
VP Retail and Marketing 916-808-0952
kmortonjr@hagginoaks.com
