These are strange times when simply staying at home can make an impact. For an ambitious junior golfer like Chloe Chan, that didn’t feel like doing nearly enough to combat the coronavirus effects being felt around the world.
Chan, a 16-year-old from Hong Kong, has spent the last two summers on the American Junior Golf Association circuit. She knew it would be a way to showcase her game for U.S. college coaches, and it ultimately resulted in a verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Summer golf also opened the door to the AJGA community. When Chan got an email from the AJGA about raising money, she went all in, using social media and email as platforms.
“I started using Instagram, Facebook, connecting with family and friends, letting them know that I have this thing up and I want them to donate to it,” Chan said. “My goal was to get to $1,000 and I managed to reach that.”
It was a big goal with the currency difference between the U.S. and Hong Kong, she said. Chan had been watching the situation become more and more serious around the world but wasn’t sure how to play her part until the AJGA’s email came through.
“It was just perfect timing, I would say,” Chan said.
Joining forces
Chan is among several AJGA players who have rallied to raise money for Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization currently focused on providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health care workers, making ICU medication and equipment more accessible and providing staffing and support to overwhelmed facilities.
“I feel like I’m responsible to give back and I feel like this is a great way to help,” Chan said by phone last month from Hong Kong.
Weeks into the pandemic, 56 AJGA total members are working on projects to support COVID-19 efforts and have collectively raised $26,000.
The AJGA’s fundraising arm exists even in times of normalcy. A program called Leadership Links helps equip AJGA members to raise money for larger causes or for causes of their own choosing. Since 2009, more than 3,000 juniors have volunteered nearly 30,000 hours and raised almost $3 million for charity.
For the first time in the 11-year history of the Leadership Links program, director of youth development Beth Dockter noted, juniors both in the United States and abroad rallied behind a single cause related to an international disaster.
“COVID-19 has been an equalizer for juniors from every walk of life to come together to make a difference,” Dockter said.
Yu Wen Lu and Eddie Zhang, both of Shanghai, China, were some of the first players to begin raising money for Direct Relief. Lu raised more than three times her $1,000 goal.
More players continued to join the effort. Aksel and Jonas Moe, 13- and 14-year-old brothers from Richville, Minnesota, raised for than $6,000 for the relief effort.
Some players branched out from social media and email, like Savannah Hylton and Jonathan Griz. In the absence of junior golf, the two Hilton Head Island, South Carolina-based teens started calling hospitals and redirecting money for canceled spring golf tournaments to the medical force. The money instead went toward snack and supplies organized into goodie bags with hand-written thank-you notes.
This affects the whole world
Charlene Chung also lives in Hong Kong – she and Chloe Chan sometimes practice together, but not lately. Chung has joined the effort with her friend, also setting – and exceeding – a $1,000 goal. She used social media and tapped family friends in her fundraising effort.
“I think it was just because it not only affected China and Hong Kong, in my area, but it also affected the whole world,” she said of getting involved.
Chung said she had some experience fundraising, having done charity work as a sixth grader in the form of a baking contest through a program called Creativity Activity Service. She also has volunteered at schools, working with younger children.
Chung’s first AJGA start was two years ago. She was inspired by the level of competition and hopes to one day qualify for the U.S. Girls’ Junior, a tournament that has already been canceled for 2020.
“When I went to play the AJGA for the first time I was like whoa,” she remembers. “That made me work a lot harder while I’m here.”
In times of crisis, a determination usually funneled into junior golf has simply been redirected.
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