Golf Tournament Benefits Corey J. Donnelly Memorial

Saturday, friends, family and community members will come out for the 2011 Corey J. Donnelly Memorial Golf Tournament.

The tournament is held every other year. This is the fourth year for the fundraiser, held at Forest Park.

Donnelly is a 2002 graduate who was killed in an automobile accident in April 2003. He was a 19-year-old student at St. Louis Community College at Meramec.

Donnelly loved the marching band and was a member of the South High band all four years of high school, his mother Laurie King said.

Since his death, his family has created the Corey J. Donnelly Memorial Fund to help other Parkway South students pursue music with funding for lessons and scholarships for seniors. This golf tournament raises the funds for these initiatives.

"Beyond that, it's a very personal thing for us, his family, just to have all these people who want to be a part of it and a part of his memory, it's wonderful," King told Town and Country-Manchester Patch.

King said the first year the golf benefit raised about $10,000 and has raised about $5,000 to $6,000 each year since. This year, she said, there are approximately 108 golfers, plus additional people come out for the lunch that follows as well as the auction. About 25 volunteers make the event possible.

Funds raised at the golf tournament were also put toward the new Corey J. Donnelly Amphitheater in Manchester's , along with a $330,000 grant.

"The three tournaments in the past are what helped us fund the amphitheater," King said. "It's huge for our family and the park. It's a forever thing."

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King said the Corey J. Donnelly Memorial Fund plans to work with another organization, Angels' Arms, which purchases and remodels homes to house foster families in an effort to keep together siblings who are in foster care. 

"I've always had a soft spot for foster kids and wanted to help, and so we are going to partner with them going forward and provide music opportunities for these children," King said. "And help them do what they might not otherwise get to do. Help them pursue music the way Corey wanted to."

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