Join the Fun with the 22nd Annual Golf Tournament

By Pat Zimmer, for The Mountain Times

Mary Larrabee and her dog Kody in an agility competition.

Registration is now open for HWC’s 22^nd annual Golf Tournament and benefit Thursday, June 25, at the Oregon Resort. Last year’s event attracted 112 golfers and raised $26,500. Register by June 15 and for $100, grab your spot, gather your team, and get ready to tee off for a great cause. Proceeds from the Tournament go to HWC’s Scholarship and Community Giving funds. 

You or your business can also be a Golf Tournament sponsor, at levels from Individual ($100) to Diamond ($2500). Sponsors are listed in the Tournament materials and get many other promotional perks. Register to be a sponsor now on the HWC website. 

Current Diamond sponsors are member-owned business ACRE [All County Real Estate], owned by Adriane Bovero, and Allay Consulting, owner Kim Anzarut. Gold level sponsors to date are Luna and Craft; Advantage Mortgage; the Karen and Ed Bassett Fund; Welches Smoke, Vape, and Gifts Shop; and Sandy Decor. 

HWC giving and volunteer activities  

This year HWC doubled its Community Fund budget to support neighbors. To date, the Fund has supported 16 families and 33 individuals and distributed $7,784 for needs such as housing payments, utilities, and medical costs. 

There’s still time to order flower baskets. Order by May 22 on the HWC website and pick up May 30 in the fire department parking lot. 

And watch for HWC members on Salmon River Road April 14, where we’ll be doing our semi-annual road clean-up. 

Member Feature: Mary Larrabee

Mary Larrabee’s 40-year career spanned Fortune 500 companies in the high-tech industry, teaching kindergarten, and helping run a dog training company. She’s lived overseas and in many parts of the United States. She raised four children. Today, she’s happy to be retired and living by the Salmon River. 

“I wanted to live in a quieter, more remote place,” she said. “I’ve lived in plenty of busy places.” Her daughter lives in Oregon, and when Mary came upon the small, neat, park home last January, she said, “I couldn’t believe it. It was right on the river. I thought, ‘I can have this?’” Now she loves her walking circuit in Wildwood and her time for herself. And her three dogs, Kiah, Kip, and Kody. 

For years, Mary had been entering and winning agility competitions with her dogs, qualifying twice for nationals in AKC competitions. It was when she got Kody, though, a purebred border collie, that she fell in love with sheepherding. She’s working up to entering Kody in a local herding competition for the first time this summer.

Sheepherding is a fine-tuned art for dog and handler, Mary said. Your dog must be impeccably trained, and dog and handler must have the proper credentials. At some herding competitions, “sheep are literally brought off the range. They’ve never been corralled; they’ve never seen a dog. Those sheep are wild. That’s why the dogs have to be so good.”

When Mary got settled here in Hoodland, it didn’t take her long to find the Hoodland Women’s Club. She is drawn to HWC’s mission of giving back to the community. 

“I’ve worked for everything I have in my life, and I’ve worked very hard, but I also know I’ve been lucky and blessed.” Through HWC’s many efforts, Mary can help spread more blessings around.

Become a member and join us in giving back

May’s HWC meeting is set for May 11 at the Rendezvous Grill. The meeting will feature a speaker on inclusion. If you’re not a member yet, join for $25 on our website and join us in May or at the annual HWC celebration and installation of Directors at Timberline Lodge June 8.