Highlights from the 2002 Virginia Clay/UCG Golf Classic

Here at Unity Care, we are committed to providing positive living environments for disadvantaged youth, and strive to prepare our youth for professions in which minorities are typically underrepresented.

To that end, we host the Virginia Clay/Unity Care Annual Golf Classic each May at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club. Specifically, the event raises money for our Pre-College Minority Engineering Program, PC-MEP. At the 2002 tournament, we were privileged to have more than 125 golfers and sponsors participate – helping us raise more than $30,000.

For the fourth year in a row the tournament proved challenging and exciting, with six teams finishing in within one stroke of each other and many others in contention until the final two holes. While we did not have a repeat hole-in-one winner, several golfers won course prizes such as bottles of wine, golf clubs, or donations made in their name.

The 2002 tournament and awards banquet included special appearances by Ray Talifero of KGO radio news, Linton Johnson of NBC 3 news and former Alameda County Supervisor Mary King, a long-time community activist.

Unity Care honored Dr. Glen Toney, former Senior Vice President of Applied Materials, with an award for excellence in community service. Dr. Toney, a founding member of the Silicon Valley Work Force, was recognized for his continuing efforts to improve youth education services. Chris Clay was also recognized for long-time service as Unity Care board president.

In addition to corporate and individual donors, this year’s tournament boasted live and silent auctions complete with auction items created by Unity Care’s residents. Our residents worked for weeks before the tournament to design art projects and other treasures for the silent auction; and those residents who participated received a percentage of the proceeds.

We rely on support from area businesses and residents to donate additional items for the auctions. The continued sponsorships have made the golf tournament a success the past four years.

PC-MEP serves more than 80 children every year, and wouldn’t be possible without the success of the Golf Classic. We invite anyone interested in making a difference to please join us next year.

“PC-MEP is fun but at the same time learning,” said student Angelica Ly. “It has made me think about getting ready to see what I would want to be when I grow up and what fields I need to study to be successful.”

The golf tournament enables Unity Care to offer PC-MEP free for every student.

“We took 80 kids on six field trips to different high-tech companies and engineering businesses this summer,” said PC-MEP program director Shon Ellerbe. “We couldn’t have done it without the help of sponsors from the golf tournament.”

View pictures of the 2002 Golf Classic.

For more information or sponsorship opportunities for the 2003 Golf Classic, contact Jennifer Jung at (408) 971-9822, or jennifer@unitycare.org.