Van donation expands youth golf program on Long Island

The metro New York chapter of First Tee will launch a pilot program for kids at two Suffolk County golf courses, with the help of a donated van.

First Tee, a youth development organization that helps kids and teens build their strength of character through golf, is bringing its program to Brentwood Country Club and Holbrook Country Club this fall.

The Islip Parks Foundation, the Town of Islip and Suffolk Transportation Services donated a 15-seat van that will serve as a mobile educational tool and satellite office that will bring First Tee into communities throughout Suffolk County. 

First Tee currently serves more than 3,500 youth in the New York metropolitan region, with a focus on those from underprivileged backgrounds.

Existing municipal partnerships in Nassau County, New York City and Essex County, N.J. provide a blueprint for bringing golf and its recreational and educational benefits to all children through First Tee’s unique core values and life skills curriculum.  To date, alumni of the program have also received more than $3.1 million in college scholarships through their involvement.

“We are thrilled to introduce our Life Skills and education curriculum to Islip and Suffolk County with this new partnership,” Gene Bernstein, chairman of the First Tee Metropolitan New York, said in written statement. “Our programs will help create outstanding new opportunities for girls and boys through the game of golf, while also developing them as young men and women of strong character/values.”