Following the annual meeting in Las Vegas, Aftermarket Foundation President, Robert (Bob) Hirsch, announced that the foundation’s annual golf tournament, staged this year in honor of recently passed board member Bob Schoeberl, generated net proceeds in excess of $400,000, a record high for the event.
“The Aftermarket Foundation has had an exceptional year,” said Hirsch. “It is true that case-demand is up significantly this year, but that was not unexpected. Overall industry awareness has been increasing, and we are not at all displeased that more cases of need on the part of bona fide aftermarket families are reaching us, and donor revenues have also increased proportionately.”
“Although; as a charitable foundation, we rely on a number of sources of contribution revenue, our Celebrity Golf Tournament is our single largest fundraising event of the year. It is very important to our continued strength and successful operations, and I am in awe of what our golf committee has been able to achieve for the foundation with this year’s tournament,” he added.
Andy Dudash, Executive Vice President of Purchasing for TBC Corp., and chair of the Aftermarket Foundation Golf Committee said: “The loss of our friend and colleague, Bob Schoeberl, back in September, was a real blow to the board and especially to our committee, but Bob had always been a great inspiration to the rest of us. We decided to dedicate this year’s event to Bob’s memory, calling it the Bob Schoeberl Memorial Golf Tournament, and even in his passing, he inspired us, – every one of us on the committee – to dig in and work even harder to produce a record year in his name. We also had additional inspiration from a lovely letter from the great Arnold Palmer, recognizing Bob’s leadership in elevating this tournament into the great stature that it now enjoys. We put in that extra effort, and we are very proud of this fantastic success, and truly grateful to all of our sponsors and contributors for sharing and participating in this worthy goal.”
Hirsch went on to add: “In addition to a very successful year in meeting increasing needs within our aftermarket industry, we have also taken steps to further strengthen our board with some exceptional new people this year, and our highly valued relations with our other industry associations, AAIA, AASA and SEMA have never been better, and never been stronger. We know there have been real needs out there that have not been reaching us so, as awareness of the foundation grows, we know we will face increased case-demands, but we have a great battery of volunteer talent on our board, and we are absolutely confident that this wonderful industry of ours will always rise to the real needs of its committed people.”
Since 1959, the Aftermarket Foundation has assisted individuals and families of the automotive aftermarket industry that have fallen on hard times due to an unexpected death, catastrophic injury, serious illness or financial hardship. Board members are called upon to assist in the fundraising efforts of the foundation, and also to assist in the identification of those in need.
The Aftermarket Foundation’s Celebrity Golf Tournament is held annually at the Las Vegas Country Club in conjunction with Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week, which is staged each year jointly by the AAIA, AASA and SEMA, and is the second largest trade show held in Las Vegas.
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