BATON ROUGE — The Capital Area Law Enforcement Foundation, or CALEF, recently raised enough money to purchase around 50 protective vests for multiple area law enforcement agencies thanks to its annual golf tournament.
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The 7th annual golf tournament four-man scramble was held on Monday at the University Club in Baton Rouge. Close to 150 golfers participated in the scramble.
“It was just a great day and all for such a great cause,” said Pat Englade, CALEF president and a former Baton Rouge Police chief.
READ MORE CALEF holds golf tournament to buy, donate vests to protect officers
So far, proceeds from the tournament have brought in around $100,000. Each vest that CALEF donates costs approximately $2,000 due to the advanced materials and technology required to stop high-caliber rounds. It’s why the non-profit puts on these fundraisers to raise money to donate the vests to area law enforcement agencies.
CALEF has been able to donate 50 vests from this year’s golf tournament, with the vests going to officers at Baton Rouge Police Department, LSU Police, and Southern University. More funds are still coming in from Monday’s event, though.
Started in 2016, CALEF aims to ensure every law enforcement officer in the Capital Area has access to the highest quality protection. In nine years, the organization has been able to raise funds and donate over 2,500 vests, Englade said.
CALEF’s fundraisers alternate, but this was the group’s seventh golf tournament and remains one of the most successful events. Earlier this year, CALEF held a bourbon raffle.
Englade said the golf tournament is the most intensive fundraiser to put together and usually takes around a year to plan and orchestrate. One of the biggest stressors for the tournament tends to be the uncertainty of what Louisiana weather can bring.
However, Monday’s weather was “perfect” and a beautiful day to golf, Englade said.
“We’ve been blessed every year with weather. I mean, it’s just been almost a miracle that we’ve never had a problem with the weather,” he said.
From sponsors and volunteers to participants, the tournament is a huge undertaking that makes an impact on the men and women who daily put their lives on the line to protect the people of the Greater Baton Rouge area.
“Everything just fell into place this year, and we had a lot of good people supporting us, a lot of good help and a huge amount of support from local restaurants and groups donating to us. I want to thank all those people. And of course, everybody that played golf that day,” Englade said.
For more information about the nonprofit or to donate directly to CALEF, visit calef.la.
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