TP_051619

8 | May 16, 2019 | the tinley Junction news
tinleyjunction.com
5–8 p.m. Thursday, June 13
Orland Park Crossing
14255 95th Ave., Orland Park
(143rd Street and LaGrange Road)
Summer
Social
SPONSORED BY
Join us for a night of music,
fashion and fun!
Fashion show produced by
Jenny Applegate
of The Leading Image
More than 40+ vendors!
Vendors include:
• 22nd Century Media • 3B’s Mobile Boutique • Avon • Chiro One
• Color Street Nail Strips • DIY Sign Party • Fred Astaire Dance Studio
• Glammerish • Gorjus Whips Body Butter • Gracie Pie Apothecary
• Health From Within • Inspire Studio Gallery • Jewels 2 U • Juicy Luzy Sangria
• L'BRI PURE 'n NATURAL Skin Care • LuLaRoe • Mary Kay Cosmetics • Norwex
• Orland Park Crossing • Paparazzi (Glamour Bijoux Jewelry) • Sheets by Karen
• Surprise Parties • Tastefully Simple • The Leading Image • Virtue Cider
• Women’s Healthcare of Illinois AND MORE TO COME!
For FREE tickets, visit
22ndCenturyMedia.com/summersocial
Last Call Before Fall
6–9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8,
Georgios Orland Park,
8800 W. 159th St., Orland Park
SAVE THE DATE!
Mistletoe Market
4–7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5,
Orland Park Crossing,
14225 95th Ave. (143rd Street & LaGrange Road),
Orland Park
Ghouls Night Out
6–9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3,
Konow’s Corn Maze,
16849 S. Cedar Road, Homer Glen
Odyssey Golf Foundation’s
community 5K fundraiser
is set to take place May 19
Amanda Del Buono
Freelance Reporter
There are many organizations
dedicated to helping
veterans cope with
post-traumatic stress disorder
and other disabilities
they must manage
after returning to civilian
life. In Tinley Park, the
Odyssey Golf Foundation
is working to do just
that by allowing veterans
to golf on a closed course
among their peers.
The 5-year-old 501(c)3
organization is headquartered
at the Odyssey Golf
Foundation Golf Course
and supports about 1,300
veteran members.
“Our mission is to assist
veterans and individuals
with disabilities and give
them the opportunity to
come and play golf at the
golf course, and it’s been
a very good experience
for everybody,” said Dakota
Stariha, who is the
event coordinator for an
upcoming fundraiser. “We
provide therapeutic services
through golf, so we
have outings every single
week for the summer.”
Each week, more than
100 veterans from Tinley
Park, New Lenox and
other nearby communities
come to the Odyssey Golf
Foundation’s course to
play for just $20, Stariha
said.
“The whole course is
shut down from about 8
a.m. to 3 p.m., and they
get to play golf. Everybody
that’s in the outing
is a veteran. They get
their golf included, they
get breakfast before they
go out to golf, and then
they get lunch also, all for
$20,” he said. “One of our
main goals is to make it
affordable for some veterans
who are retired and
even active duty, so we
have different programs
for each of them.”
The organization has
chosen to focus its efforts
on providing golf as an
outlet to veterans because
it allows them to be outdoors
and in open spaces
without crowding, a common
trigger for those who
return with PTSD, Stariha
said.
“When these veterans
come back from a war that
they’ve been in, and they
have a PTSD-type experience
when they’re out in
the open,” he said. “So, by
having these outings, you
have all of these guys who
have been in these wars,
and almost even in the
same battalion so to say,
they kind of forget about
that. They don’t have the
PTSD at all, and a lot of
times, veterans have told
me that this is the only
course they can play at
because they can’t go and
play somewhere else and
have a panic attack when
they’re out there.”
To continue its cause
of providing therapy
through sport, the foundation
is hosting its first
community 5K fundraising
event, Run Fore the
Greater Good 5K. The 5K
walk/run will take place
Sunday, May 19, with all
proceeds benefiting the
Odyssey Golf Foundation.
“We thought a good
way to involve everybody
in the community would
be to do a 5K,” Stariha
said. “This is the first of
its kind [for the foundation].
We don’t like to
do a ton of fundraising,
because we try to make
it sustainable because we
are a public course, too,
so we can have people
come out and play regularly.
You don’t need to be
a veteran to come out and
play.”
Until now, the foundation’s
fundraising efforts
have relied on $10 annual
veteran memberships, civilian
play time and an
annual golf outing fundraiser,
Stariha said.
The 5K will take place
at 8 a.m., with check-in
and registration starting at
7:15 a.m. The course will
span the Odyssey Golf
Foundation Golf Course,
with parking available
at 19111 Oak Park Ave.,
in Tinley Park. The cost
of entry for runners and
walkers is $25, and registration
can be completed
at OdysseyGolfFounda
tion.org/5K/.
For those who aren’t
able to participate in the
5K, community members
are invited to golf at the
Odyssey Golf Foundation’s
golf course, with
the fees going to the foundation’s
cause.
visit us online at www.tinleyjunction.com