GlenLakes Veterans Group Awards $30,000 to 12 Local Veterans Organizations

GlenLakes Veterans and Friends (GLVF) held a reception on March 7 for the sponsors and grant recipients of their 10th Annual Golf Scramble, which took place on November 10, 2025. The ceremony marked the distribution of more than $30,000 across 12 veterans-related organizations serving the Nature Coast region.

The organization has been holding this event every year on Veterans Day since 2016. GLVF is an all-volunteer non-profit comprised of GlenLakes community residents, some of them veterans, but many not. That mix of backgrounds has not diminished the organization's output: over the past seven years, the organization has raised almost three-quarters of a million dollars through its annual Golf Outing.

Special thanks went to Golinski Tax Advisors for their generous donation of $20,000, and to Glen Lakes Golf and Country Club for their ongoing support of the event. The management of Glen Lakes Golf and Country Club allowed participants free use of the golf course and golf carts. Other individuals and businesses participated as hole sponsors, donors of items for the auction and raffles, or with monetary donations, including Aventura Nursery, Brooks Electric Vehicles, Buick GMC Brooksville, Downing Funeral Home, Jackson Financial Services, Transamerica Financial Services, and Village Toyota, among others.

Among the grant recipients photographed at the reception were members of Fairways for Warriors, Bill Koenig II of American Legion Post 418, members of a local JROTC program, and Gus Guadagnino of VHF. To be considered for a grant, an organization must submit a grant application and be vetted by the GLVF Board of Directors.

Volunteers spend almost a whole year planning and organizing the event, soliciting sponsorships and donations from local businesses and individuals and handling publicity. Beyond the golf tournament, GLVF conducts projects throughout the year, including Wreaths Across America, in which members place wreaths on the graves of veterans at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

Local veterans groups such as the DAV, American Legion, and VFW have substantial unfilled needs for their members, but receive only a pittance from their national organizations. GLVF's decade-long tournament model has become one of the most consistent sources of direct funding for those groups across Hernando and Citrus counties.

More information about GlenLakes Veterans and Friends is available at glenlakesvets.org.