Only 100 of 2,500 golf balls sold: Bunny ball drop fundraiser has lots of chances left
Time is running out to buy balls in a weekend fundraiser for the Florida Council of the Blind.
The first-ever Blind Bunny Ball Drop and Not Quite an Easter Egg Hunt will take place next Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the driving range at the Coral Oaks Golf Course, at 1800 N.W. 28th Ave.
Mike Ulrich, the event organizer, explained that people can buy numbered balls online, which will be dropped over the driving range by a helicopter; the ball that lands in the flagged hole is the winner.
There is a cash prize of up to $5,000. If no ball goes in the hole, it goes to the closest ball.
As of Thursday, approximately 100 balls out of the 2,500 total had been sold.
“We’ve fallen quite short, but the event will still go on,” he said.
The deadline to purchase balls is 9 a.m. the morning of the event, March 26; the balls are $10 each.
Organizers also are signing up youths to help collect the balls once the winners is declared.
“We’ll give the children each a bag, and they can run out and pick up as many golf balls as they can,” Ulrich said.
The youth will receive 10 cents for every ball that they collect.
At the start of the fundraiser, one numbered ball out of all of the balls to be dropped will be selected. The child who retrieves and turns in the selected ball will take home the grand prize Easter basket.
“The child that turns in that number ball will win the grand prize,” he said.
Some of the goodies include tickets to the Naples Zoo, the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium and Sun Splash Family Waterpark, a one-year family pass to the Imaginarium Science Center and more.
Prizes will also be awarded to the top three youths who collect the most balls.
Ulrich noted that the winning children will receive various gift cards.
The registration is open to ages 7 to 12.
As of Thursday, about a dozen children had signed up.
“We have openings for 75 kids,” he said.
The child’s name and age will be needed, as well as a parent’s name and contact information.
“The kids have to be out there on the driving range by noon,” Ulrich added.
The goal of the Blind Bunny Ball Drop and Not Quite an Easter Egg Hunt is to raise funds for the Florida Council of the Blind. The organization receives no funding assistance from the government.
“It’s all through money it brings in on its own through members and fundraisers,” he said.
The organization runs a telephone reference program for newly blind people so they have access to resources and information, builds public awareness, runs public education programs and more.
Ulrich encouraged the public to take part in the event.
“It’s a neat way for the Florida Council of the Blind to raise money,” he said.
People can purchase the balls online at: blindbunnyballdrop.org.
They will be asked if they want to donate $2 out of the $10 toward their local chapter.
For more information on the fundraiser or to buy balls, visit the website.
To register a child, contact Ulrich at (239) 540-7432 or mulrich@centurylink.net.