Every Shrine Club lives and breathes through the support and work of its membership. Behind those members, though, is a whole cadre of support staff, known as family and friends of the fraternity. These people are vital to the success of any endeavor, and such is the case in the Worcester County Shrine Club.

Our Club holds an annual golf tournament to support the Club and its mission. This year’s event was held the day after Memorial Day at the Blackstone National Country Club in Sutton, MA. But before we were able to get the first golfer on the links, there were sponsorships to be sought out, raffle prizes obtained, auction items to be assembled, and gift bags to be stuffed. All of this had to be done by someone, or many someones.

The WCSC is blessed to have several dedicated non-Shriners who are critical to the success of this massive undertaking. Since planning for this spring’s event, the Club was fortunate to have the services of two highly motivated women to facilitate this process. Mrs. Arlette Peterson, wife of Noble Bill “Chuckles” Peterson, was a tireless worker in all aspects of planning and organizing the tournament. Arlette attended nearly every planning meeting, collected all the data on the sponsorships, major sponsors, raffle items, door prizes, tournament playing rules, and the specialty events on the course, and used this to produce the entire program flyer given to every golfer. Additionally, Arlette gave the entire day of the tournament to the Club to run the Hole In One competition. Arlette is truly dedicated to helping promote Shrine’s mission.

The Club also has an angel in the form of a Ms. Veronica “Ronnie” Bello. Ronnie does not have a direct Shrine connection as Arlette does; instead, she is the grandmother of a recipient of Shrine Hospital services. She makes no bones about how much Shriners Hospitals helped her grandson Jimmy and how important it is to support that mission. Having many connections to the businesses in the Worcester Area, she is unafraid of approaching any local business and asking them for sponsorship for the tournament. The owners of the local businesses know her well and are always happy to see her. You see, Ronnie used to work in one of the popular and historic diners on Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street. Many people passed through those doors and came to know and love Ronnie. To the WCSC’s benefit, Ronnie uses those connections well. During this past tournament, alone, she was responsible for nearly half the sponsorship dollars raised, not to mention the numerous 4-somes she recruited. She was also responsible for many, many donations of items for the raffle during the tournament meal. She tirelessly attended nearly every meeting leading up to the event and continues to channel feedback from the players to help improve next year’s tournament. During the Tournament, Ronnie was the second person to Arlette Peterson, running the Hole In One Contest, and afterwards assisted in conducting the prize raffle. A tireless worker and dedicated to the work of the Shrine Hospitals.

While these two fabulous Ladies were instrumental in the tournament success, there were others who also gave. The Club was blessed with two young Ladies from the Oxford Chapter of Rainbow that helped sell raffle tickets as the golfers came off the course. Additionally, one of this year’s Major Sponsors, UniBank, allowed Elin Johnson, daughter of Noble Robert Johnson, to work the event as a part of its mission to support the local communities. Elin came early to assist in registration, set up the raffle items for viewing, clean up the registration area, move all the raffle items into the dining area for the banquet, assemble a large smoker that was going to be used as an auction item and generally assist in anything needed right through clean up. She was assisted by her mom, Linda, who came later in the morning to help get everything ready for the golfers as they finished their rounds.

Worcester County Shrine Club has great support from its members, but it is the help from these unsolicited volunteers that help move us forward. Our success is dependent on our members, but it is nice to know that those that see the value in what the Shrine Hospitals stand for and the good they do, are willing to pay back and pay it forward to ensure the work continues. We send a huge and hearty “Thank You” to all who volunteer “for the kids.” God Bless You All.