Jim Osborn says the seventh annual Delta Streets Academy Charity Weekend is a tremendous endeavor and a worthy cause.
“Not just from the education side of it but from introducing a young man to the opportunity to discover who Jesus is,” said Osborn, who serves on the academy’s board and fundraising committee. “That is the primary focus of the school.”
The annual two-day fundraiser for Delta Streets, which begins Friday, will feature a four-man golf scramble, a drawdown event and a sporting clay tournament.
The academy, established by head of school T. Mac Howard, is a Greenwood-based school for young men that aims to provide a holistic education promoting high academic achievement, athletics, character development and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The school opened in August 2012 and operated with seventh- and eighth-grade classes. There were 14 students, two full-time teachers and three part-time teachers. This year, the school enrolled just shy of 60 students.
Planning for the Charity Weekend began in January, and by the end of February, people started signing up for events and purchasing drawdown tickets.
“The last few years, it’s run like a well-oiled machine,” Osborn said. “The people who are involved have been on it and helping for quite a while. We are trying to create more enthusiasm and encourage people to participate and help.”
This year, 10 people were on the committee to help plan and organize the event, with Gary Dyksterhouse as chairman.
“Gary does a good job of organizing, planning and shooting everybody emails,” Osborn said.
“We have been tweaking a little bit year to year to change up some things on how we approach the fundraising aspect of it — trying to give everybody an opportunity to give as much as possible.”
This year, the golf scramble will be held in the afternoon at the Greenwood Country Club, rather than the morning, and the drawdown dinner will be held at the club also, instead of the Historic Elks Building downtown.
The committee also decided to sell an additional 30 tickets this year, bringing the total to 330 for the drawdown. On Thursday, only eight tickets were left.
“Each year, it has been easier to sell. Last year was our first time to ever sell out the event,” Howard said. “As word gets out and the event gets bigger and bigger people want to be a part of it, which is fun.”
The Charity Weekend is the largest fundraising event for the school and has grown over the years. Last year, the event raised and met its goal of $75,000; this year, the goal is $85,000. All proceeds will go toward the school’s operational costs including teacher salaries and supplies.
Howard said he believes they will once again reach their goal of $85,000 this year.
The weekend will begin with registration for the golf scramble starting at 11 a.m and then a shotgun start at noon. Howard said the golf scramble is full, but 18 teams of four are participating. The first-, second- and third-place winners will receive pro-shop credit, and there are $30,000 worth of hole-in-one prizes.
The drawdown event starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $100 each and admit two. A ticket also provides a chance at the $5,000 drawdown prize and heavy hors d’oeuvres. A cash bar will be available.
During the drawdown event, a silent auction will take place with roughly 12 to 15 items.
Some of the items include an original painting by Katy Coleman, a one-night stay at the Graduate hotel in Oxford, a Webster’s gift card and a Dancing Rabbit golf package.
The final event on Saturday will be the sporting clay tournament, which will take place at Ray Makamson’s Island. This year, 36 shooting teams have signed up. There will be three start times at 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. All spots for the sporting clay event are full.
Osborn said participants from all over the state come to participate in the shoot.
The Delta Streets title sponsor is Cannon Motors of Mississippi.
Platinum sponsors include Thompson CAT, Bank of Commerce, Delta Group Inc., Express Grain, Guaranty Bank, Helena, Jimmy Sanders, Kirk Brothers, Local Seed Co., Mid Delta Auction Co., Monsanto and Pure Air.
Other significant sponsors are The Landing, Mike Rozier Construction, Milwaukee Tool, RC Construction Co., Sturdivant Brothers Flying Service, Trustmark National Bank, United Rentals, Regions Bank and State Bank & Trust. There are 36 other sponsors for the weekend.
Howard said this weekend helps spread the word about Delta Streets Academy. “It just spreads the knowledge of what we are doing, which in turn, opens the door for more opportunities for people to get plugged in and help,” he said.
“I want to let everybody know how thankful we are for the support. It is the amount of money that different companies and individuals give to make this weekend happen that is just very humbling, and they are super generous.”
•Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
