Go golfing for a good cause at Costa Rica’s luxurious Four Seasons

On Nov. 10, the Children’s Well Being Foundation (CWB), the nonprofit organization Creciendo Juntos and the Guanacaste Community Fund are hosting a golf tournament open to the public to benefit a children’s health clinic in Comunidad de Carillo, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. The Four Seasons Resort is donating the use of its golf course and offering special room rates for participants.

Treating more than 3,500 children and adolescents who would otherwise have limited access to health care, the award-winning community children’s health clinic in Carillo is a creative and successful example of very different organizations joining together to meet a pressing need.

Before 2011, the children of Comunidad, an economically depressed crossroads town at the northern end of the Nicoya Peninsula, had very limited access to health care. The local clinic, built by the Social Security Administration, or Caja, and operated by the local Community Development Association, was only open one day a month, meaning its impact was almost nil.

In March of that year, Creciendo Juntos, the social responsibility program of Ecodesarrollos Peninsula Papayo, the Caja, and the CWB entered into an innovative tripartite agreement to manage the clinic so that it would be open full-time. Creciendo Juntos assumes the task of renovating and managing the clinic, CWB pays for the salaries of a full-time doctor and part-time psychologist, and the Caja provides medicines and laboratory tests.

This model – which joins private business, a public sector agency and an international nongovernmental organization to meet a pressing community need – can easily be replicated in other parts of the country.

The Second Annual Children’s Welfare Golf Tournament seeks to raise funds to cover a substantial part of the operating costs of the Comunidad clinic, which are approximately $70,000 per year. The Guanacaste Community Fund, an initiative of The Costa Rica-USA Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA), is offering $15,000 in matching funds.

Those interested in playing on one of Costa Rica’s premier golf courses while contributing to a very important cause can register online here. Hole sponsorships are still available. The cost of playing in the tournament is $300, including a practice round the day before and a gift bag. More than $20,000 worth of prizes has been donated and will be awarded or auctioned to participants.

The Four Seasons Resort is offering a special rate of $250 per night for players. Other lodging nearby at special rates is also available.

For more information regarding the tournament, please contact: Landy Blank, at landy2255@gmail.com.

Steve Mack is the executive director of the Guanacaste Community Fund. He can be reached at steve@guanacastefund.org.