One local business is doing its part to raise money for substance abuse education and awareness for Carson City students.
The RMC Realty Group of Carson City is hosting its second annual D.A.R.E. Golf Tournament fundraiser to help maintain and strengthen the Sheriff’s Office D.A.R.E. program.
“I think a program like this helps down the road,” said realtor and organizer Chris Sieben. “It won’t help every kid, but if we can deter more from that route with education is beneficial. We don’t want to see a program like this go away, we want it to get stronger with more reach.”
D.A.R.E. is a grant-funded program with the Sheriff’s Office that goes into the classrooms to teach fifth graders about substance abuse awareness, bullying, and other lessons.
Sieben discovered the importance of the program last year after his oldest son completed it in his fifth grade class.
“My son really liked it and learned a lot from it… with all the drugs and stuff going on in our schools, it is a program that is important to have,” Sieben said.
Sieben said their event last year raised $8,000, which they were able to present to coordinator Deputy Lisa Davis.
“She was tearing up when we gave it to her,” Sieben said. “We don’t want them to have to rely on grants… it is not a good time to cut funding for drug awareness, bullying and what to do with an active shooter, so we want to do what we can.”
This year, they’re trying to raise even more money.
“Our goal is to fill the event and raise more so we can hand them a good sized check and be able to open D.A.R.E. to more schools,” Sieben said.
For the realty group, it’s important to be able to provide the program to all the schools in Carson City, and hope that one day, there can be an advanced D.A.R.E. program to provide to middle or high school students.
“Maybe then, it doesn’t just top at the fifth grade level, because don’t (students) always start to deal with as much of these things until they are older, so we want to have something to look at a more advanced program for the older kids,” Sieben said.
Sieben said people should come out and participate in the tournament because all of the benefits will go back to the kids in the community.
“At the end of the day, we need to start with the kids and their education,” Sieben said. “The more education while they are young, the less likely they are to grow up in trouble… and it helps to have the hard conversations with kids that some parents don’t want to have.”
The golf tournament will be held July 15 at the Toiyabe Golf Course.
There will be teams of four playing and the event will include breakfast and a barbecue lunch along with prizes for first place, longest drive, closest to the pin and hole in one. After green fees, all proceeds will go back to the program.
Registration is $100 per person and can be completed at RCMNevada.com. Check in will begin at 8 a.m. and the shotgun start will be at 9 a.m.
There are also a number of sponsor tiers available for businesses, starting at a $350 Bogey sponsor that includes a logo banner at the event; a $500 Par sponsor that includes a logo sign on a green and at the event; a $1,500 Eagle sponsor that includes set up and swag on a hole and a free foursome to play; and a $2,500 Hole in One sponsor that includes the logo on mulligans or golf carts, two free foursomes, set up and swag on a hole and in goodie bags, a logo banner at the event and social media sponsorship.
All sponsors must be contacted by July 10.
For questions, information, to donate or to set up a sponsorship, contact Sieben at chris@rcmnevada.com.
“The goal is to raise money for D.A.R.E. and see how much good we can do,” Sieben said.