It’s great listening to these stories, and hearing about how the money is going to make multiple lives different.”

Steve Carreira, who chaired the Montaup Charity Day Committee

Lucky 21: This year’s beneficiaries from Montaup

Here are the 21 recipients of the 2024 Montaup Country Club Charity Day. Visit their websites to learn more.

• The Autism Project (theautismproject.org)

• Batten Disease Research (battendiseaseresearch.org)

• Bike Newport (bikenewportri.org)

• Boys Town New England (boystown.org/new-england)

• Bristol County Lions Club (e-clubhouse.org/sites/bristolcountyri)

• The Burke Fund (burkefund.org)

• Button Hole (buttonhole.org)

• Camp Jack (peopleincfr.org/services/diabetes-association-inc/camp-jack)

• Common Fence Point Improvement Association (commonfencepoint.org)

• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (cff.org/chapters/massachusetts-rhode-island-chapter)

• David Affonso Memorial Fund (davidmaffonsomemorialfoundation.org)

• David Machado Memorial Fund (davidmachadogolfmemorial.org)

• Feed RI (feedri.org)

• Four Hearts Foundation (fourheartsfoundation.com)

• Isla Marcellus/Stiff Person Syndrome (superintendentnetwork.com/network-clippings/swing-for-a-cure-isla)

• My Brother’s Keeper (mybrotherskeeper.org)

• Newport Gulls (newportgulls.pointstreaksites.com/view/newportgulls)

• People Inc. (peopleincfr.org)

• Scleroderma Foundation (scleroderma.org/newenglandchapter)

• The Tomorrow Fund (tomorrowfund.org)

• VFW Post 5390 Portsmouth (vfwpost5390.com)

PORTSMOUTH — Conley Zani said the Common Fence Point Improvement Association spends most of its time taking care of people’s mental health and fostering connections.

“We’re so focused on trying to take care of our neighbors and you, our neighbor, is trying to take care of us,” she told the folks at Montaup Country Club last week during a special “Charity Night” recognition event at the club, which boasts a golf course that borders Common Fence Point.

The club held its 11th annual Charity Day Golf Tournament on Sept. 29, during which a total of $43,050 was raised for organizations that serve the wider community throughout the region. 

“This year we did the best ever; over $40,000 we made,” said Edward “Ted” Simonetti, who served as the emcee for the evening. “We first started in 1982 and donated to one charity, a cancer home in Fall River. That closed down, and then we did A Wish Come True, and then we decided to be more distributive. We did a mission statement about 12 years ago and thought about giving back to the local scene here.”

In those 12 years, the club has raised about $300,000, he said.

The money was divided among 21 organizations, and representatives from each organization were presented with an oversized check and invited to share a few words about their organization’s mission.

“It’s great listening to these stories, and hearing about how the money is going to make multiple lives different,” said Steve Carreira, who chaired the Montaup Charity Day Committee. He and his wife Doris, along with other committee members, were credited for the great success of this year’s event.

Most groups received $1,950 each, while two of them — the VFW Post 5390 in Portsmouth and Camp Jack in Fall River — got $3,000 apiece. 

Ken Rutter, commander of Post 5390 — another close neighbor of the country club — said the donation will be put toward needed sprinklers in the building. Rutter and his wife Nancy, the vice president of the post’s auxiliary, were so grateful for the donation they presented Montaup with a framed certificate of appreciation. 

Wendy Gaughan of Suzanne Vallee Charity Golf, which started 20 years ago to raise funds mainly for Camp Jack, thanked Montaup for assisting with such a good cause. “Camp Jack is an amazing camp for kids with diabetes,” said Gaughan.

Foundation continues work

Although the Four Hearts Foundation’s main mission — building the Portsmouth Community Playground on Turnpike Avenue — was completed in June, its work is not done.

“We started our foundation for that purpose — to create an inclusive and accessible playground for our island. Now that we’ve completed our playground, we’ve changed our mission a little bit and now we’re focused on improving the island that we live in and love,” said Kateri Chappell Buerman, the foundation’s founder who was also awarded a check.

Four Hearts recently donated speech communication boards to both Hathaway and Melville schools. The boards feature small pictures to help students who are non-verbal or have difficulty communicating, she said. The foundation also works with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Newport, hosts toy drives, and is engaged in other charitable work. 

“We’re always trying to look at small ways to help our community,” she said.

Another beneficiary was Feed RI, which just recently changed its name from the former We Share Hope — so recently that the check was made out to the organization’s original name.

“The check’s still good,” joked Feed RI Executive Director Johanna Corcoran, adding the name change was necessary for clarity. 

“We did that for a big reason, because it’s very important to us that folks who are in need of food in this state know where to find us,” said Corcoran, noting that the organization serves hungry youth in Rhode Island. “Food security is a huge part of focusing and succeeding in school if they know there’s going to be food on the table when they come in. So we now have 16 school-based food pantries throughout the state.”

One of them is at Rogers Hill School in Newport, and another is in East Providence. “The funds that were raised through this tournament are going to go directly toward filling the shelves, fridges and freezers at those two school pantries,” she said.

My Brother’s Keeper is another organization that addresses hunger in the Ocean State. “One in three households in Rhode Island is food insecure. Your support is helping us help families that are in that situation,” said Paul Key, the group’s chief development officer.

Lisa Haines, executive director of the Tomorrow Fund, said the organization couldn’t do its job without the support from community members such as Montaup.

“The organization solely exists to help patients who are diagnosed with cancer and are treated at the Tomorrow Fund Clinic at Hasbro Children’s Hospital,” said Haines. The organizations helps with mortgage payments, rent, utilities, co-pays and more — “All the things that no one thinks about when you’re going through your day-to-day life.”

One such child who takes advantage of the Tomorrow Fund Clinic is Isla Marcellus, who at 4 is one of the youngest people in the world with Stiff Person Syndrome. She attended last week’s event with her family, which was presented with a check to assist with her care. Isla was diagnosed at 18 months with the rare, progressive neurological disorder that causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms.

Impressed with generosity

Isla’s father, Shaun Marcellus, the golf course superintendent at Wanumetonomy Country Club in Middletown, said he was impressed with Montaup managing to raise more than $40,000 from one tournament. 

Gail Ruscetta, community educator for another beneficiary, Bike Newport, was also awed by the charity tournament’s benevolence. “It struck me how incredibly generous everyone was who came up to where I was working,” she said. “They were so willing to open their wallets —‘What can I buy? What can I give?’”