Community steps up to help family in need; in memorial to a young golfer
By Jennifer Eisenbart
EDITOR
On a day where thunderstorms and rain were supposed to make for a soggy afternoon, Saturday turned out to be pretty much perfect for two events seeking to help others.
With the Joey O’Brien Memorial Golf Outing taking place at Browns Lake Golf Course and the Darin Tiedt benefit taking place just up the road on Browns Lake, the rain stayed away and both events took off.
“The weather held up very good,” said Kevin O’Brien, Joey’s father. “But we’ve got some clout upstairs, which helps keep the clouds away from us.”
But the O’Brien outing wasn’t the only show in town Saturday. A half-mile up the road, friends and family gathered to raise money for Darin Tiedt and his family.
“The day could not have been more perfect,” said Caryn Bird, who along with her husband, Kevin, and others put the fundraiser together.
Both events came about because of tragedy. Joey O’Brien died unexpectedly in 2005 of leukemia, and since then, the Joey O’Brien Foundation has held the golf outing to fund both local scholarships and leukemia research. Kevin O’Brien said Tuesday he was hopeful the 2014 event would put the benefit over the $400,000 mark for its initial nine years.
Darin Tiedt, meanwhile, while battling ulcerative colitis, suffered a pair of strokes in April. He returned home from a long hospitalization about two weeks ago.
But with the focus on raising money Saturday, both events seemed to draw more smiles than tears.
“Things went well,” said Kevin O’Brien, who guessed they had more than 140 golfers at the event.
Another 25 to 30 people showed up for the pork chop dinner that evening. There were also numerous silent auctions that ranged from an American Girl doll to golf equipment.
“It’s very gratifying,” O’Brien said. “It’s nice to see the people out there to support the kids the way they do.”
For the Tiedts, meanwhile, the whole family got involved. Malik Tiedt had his photography framed and out for the silent auction bidding – along with about 100 other items. At the pig roast dinner that afternoon, the organizers also raised about $1,000 in a pool to shave Bill Ehlen’s long beard.
Kevin Bird said there was community support ranging from trucks from Lynch Truck Center to members of the University of Wisconsin–Parkside team donating their time to referee the wrestling tournament held that morning at the high school.
Add in a 5K run/walk organized by Julie Verhagen and Robbie Twohig and organizers pulled off an event that had Darin Tiedt and his wife, Heidi, saying ‘thank you’ more times than could be counted, Caryn Bird said.
“We pulled the benefit together in about three weeks, and couldn’t be more pleased with the results,” she said.
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