Thanks to some local golfers, the Jacket Food Pantry will have no problems keeping its shelves stocked in the foreseeable future.

The Kingfisher Golf Association last Saturday presented a check for $7,500 to help fund the pantry, which is open to any family with students at Kingfisher Public Schools.

The donation was made after the seventh annual KGA Benefit Golf Tournament.

More than 70 golfers participated in the four-person scramble, which had raised nearly $60,000 for various causes in the previous six years.

All the proceeds from the entry fees go toward the beneficiary of the tournament.

On top of that, the KGA this year donated $1,650 toward the cause.

The Kingfisher Women’s Golf Association donated another $1,200.

There were other individual donors, which helped bring the amount to its total when KGA club pro and manager Gary Wilson presented the check to Paula Leffingwell, a counselor at KHS who is among those in charge of running it.

During the presentation, Leffingwell said the amount was larger than she anticipated.

“Jacket Food Pantry is truly grateful for the recent donation,” Leffingwell said.

The Jacket Food Pantry serves, roughly 70 to 100 students per semester, Leffingwell said.

“This money will be used towards getting more shelving units at the pantry, stocking personal hygiene and health items, purchasing farm-raised ground beef from a local farmer along with buying a variety of non-perishable foods,” she said.

The pantry also purchases from the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, which delivers once a month.

“The Regional Food Bank offers great choices of food, but this money will help expand those choices,” Leffingwell said. “We are thankful for all donations.”

Wilson said handing over the check after the benefit tournament is annually one of the favorite parts of his job.

“Our board members coming up with this idea and then us making it happen is really something we’re proud of,” Wilson said.

“We have a lot of people who come to this tournament every year not to win money, but to donate to a great cause. It really is something special. It’s a tradition I’m glad we started and one I hope continues for a long, long time.”