TEN YEARS AGO, a few of Geneva National Golf Club’s members were discussing equine therapy for children with special needs when GN executive Kevin Paluch stopped in and offered up one of the Club’s championship courses for a benefit. That 2005 golf event marked the beginning of the Geneva National Foundation and its main fundraiser, the Lifelong Empowerment Open, better known as the L.E.O.

 

Now celebrating its 10th year of turning disabilities into possibilities, the volunteer-run Foundation to date has raised over $2.5 million in donations, and the L.E.O. has become the single-largest fundraiser in the community -- requiring two or all three of the Club’s legendary courses.

 

“Walworth County is Geneva National’s and our home, so it was natural to lend our assistance to the 4,500-plus disabled individuals in our community,” says the Foundation’s acting director Pamela Chambers, whose family owns and operates the Geneva National Resort. “When my husband, Garth, and I relocated to Wisconsin, our son and his family chose to move here as well. As a multi-generational family business, we’re committed to this community.”

 

Chambers notes that one of the Foundation’s first beneficiaries became Elkhorn’s Lakeland School, which received support for award-winning indoor lap and therapy pools for the school’s 270 special education students, ages 3 to 21. This year, the Foundation provided $10,000 for the purchase of musical playground instruments and additional swings to meet studentssensory and motor development needs while also allowing non-verbal students to express themselves. “Geneva National Foundation’s many years of efforts can be seen throughout our facility, filling our school with the latest technology and equipment to enhance the lives of our special students,” notes Lakeland’s administrator Tracy Moate.

 

A recent $6,000 grant for Whitewater-based Studio 84 also promotes self-expression among the disabled, as the funds provide needed art materials as well as help to keep class fees affordable.