Yuma golf tournament raises funds for Amberly’s Place services

More than 20 teams teed off at Yuma Golf & Country Club on Friday, but the bigger scorecard was measured in crisis services. The third annual Desert Coast Growers Invitational Golf Tournament brought local businesses together to raise money for Amberly’s Place, a Yuma nonprofit that says the fundraiser helps keep frontline services available for families in immediate need.

The event was hosted by RDO Equipment Co. and drew a crowd to the course for a 7:30 a.m. registration and a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Amberly’s Place says the tournament is one of its largest annual fundraisers, and the money supports work that is far more urgent than a day on the links: 24-hour crisis help, on-call response, emergency assistance, legal advocacy, crisis intervention, forensic interviews, medical exams and case management for people facing domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, trafficking, stalking and elder abuse.

That mission has grown sharply over time. Amberly’s Place opened its doors in 2000 after being established in 1999 with the Yuma Family Advocacy Coalition. The organization says it began by assisting 48 victims in its first year and now supports more than 3,000 annually. KYMA reported in April that the center had been a safe place for more than 3,000 local survivors, underscoring how much demand has expanded across Yuma County.

The need is not abstract. In June 2024, KYMA reported Amberly’s Place assisted 331 abuse victims in April and 278 in May, a 16% increase over the same period the year before. Tori Bourguignon, the executive director, has said domestic violence is the highest call for service in Yuma County and that no neighborhood is exempt. In September, the nonprofit also gave purple ribbons to all 12 federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies in the county as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, showing how closely the center works with police and other responders.

The tournament also carried the weight of Amberly’s Place history. The nonprofit was created with the blessing of Amberly Ann Mendoza’s family, after her 1996 killing that remains unsolved. KYMA marked 30 years since her death in March, a reminder that the organization’s name is tied to a case that still resonates across Yuma.

For local companies, Friday’s tournament was more than a social outing. It was a practical investment in the services that stand between a crisis and nowhere else to go, and in Yuma County that safety net depends heavily on community dollars when the calls keep coming.