RED BANK — Each November, local accounting firm The Curchin Group hosts an indoor miniature-golf tournament to bring together sponsors, clients and community members, while raising funds to benefit local nonprofits.
As the firm prepares to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the “Curchin Mini Golf Open” Nov. 10, Peter Pfister, a partner with Curchin and chairman of the tournament, said more than $120,000 has been raised thus far to benefit local nonprofits.
“Our team looks forward to this event every year,” Pfister said. “We started this in 2005 … and it has grown ever since.
“We have a lot of wonderful people who come out and give so generously, and I think that support has been what has kept this a success over the last decade.”
This year, the two local nonprofit organizations selected through an essay competition are Lunch Break in Red Bank, which addresses the issue of hunger in Monmouth County; and Monmouth Day Care Center in Red Bank, which provides a safe and stimulating environment for children two months to 5 years old.
“This year we had about 12 applications sent in, and what we do is those that are interested can send a 250-to 500-word essay about their mission [and] how the funds will be used, and then our partners will read over all the applications and decide on the recipients,” Pfister said.
“It has been great that we are able to name different recipients each year, and to date we have raised more than $10,000 for this year’s tournament.”
While raising money for the nonprofits, clients, sponsors and community members alike play a nine-hole round of miniature golf on a course set up at Curchin offices at 200 Schulz Drive, Red Bank.
“Some of our holes have gotten stale and ragged so we have updated them, but the event just really brings people together and we have some great prizes, and it allows us time to speak with clients and sponsors and people we might not interact with on a daily basis.”
The Curchin Group, is a certified public accounting firm that helps businesses and individuals reach financial goals through providing a broad range of services including audits, taxes, estate planning, small and family business consulting and litigation and valuation services.