Providence Country Club: ‘Heathen’ golfers make wishes come true

A self-proclaimed group of “Heathens” will play golf to raise money Make-A- Wish Central and Western North Carolina.

Bill Thompson, chairman of the second annual Heathens Charity Golf Classic, hopes to field 33 foursomes and raise $50,000.

“We call it ‘For The Kids,’ ” said Thompson. “We contribute 100 percent of what we collect to the charity. Since we started collecting money, we have granted 14 wishes.”

The tournament is 9 a.m. March 25 at the Providence Country Club, 6001 Providence Country Club Drive, Charlotte.

“We started about five years ago, when a group of us couldn’t play golf together on Saturdays because we were involved in coaching baseball for our kids,” said John Reilly is the “commissioner” of the group. “Sundays was our only free day for golf. We were out on the golf course early in the morning, watching people drive to church. We started calling ourselves the ‘Heathens,’ and decided we could do something good during the time we played golf.”

Reilly said members decided to contribute $10 or $20 each time they played golf or in a tournament. As its membership grew to 125, so did the amount of money it collected. In the first year, the group raised $13,000 in 30 days, followed by $26,000 the next year.

Thompson stepped in to help the group decide how to donate the money. He advocated for Make-A-Wish, a charity he knew and trusted.

“We were able to raise the money the first few years without much effort,” said Reilly, “so we decided to take it up a notch, and do something more.”

Two years ago the group decided to host a golf tournament to raise money. It turned to Thompson again, who knew how to organize golf tournaments from helping his father put together charity golf tournaments in New York.

In last year’s inaugural golf tournament, the group raised $31,000 for Make-A-Wish, said Thompson.

“It’s vital to be able to count on partners like the Heathens,” said Amy Brindley, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Central and Western North Carolina, an organization that serves Charlotte in Mecklenburg County and 50 other counties. “We use these funds raised locally to grant the wishes of children in our area.”

This year’s tournament will be bigger – attracting golfers from outside the region – and some local celebrities. Former Panthers receiver Mustafah Muhammad is expected to attend, along with others, said Thompson. At last year’s tournament, Stuart Stout, father of Hope Stout, a Matthews girl who died when she was 12 from cancer, addressed the group.

Lunch will be catered by Smoke & Go, a food truck operated by Sam and Marvin Young. Entertainment includes music and massages on the course.

“The beauty of it is nobody cares about the prizes. People play because they care about the charity,” said Thompson. “But our champions do get a ‘Heathens’ flag.”