Leadership Links

Siblings raise over $18,000 for ACE Grant and Bay Area charity

Siblings Matthew and Sammy Lin or Orinda, California, have raised over $18,000 through Leadership Links for charity.

Kids helping kids is an idea siblings Matthew and Sammy Lin use as inspiration.

Thanks to Leadership Links, they've done it.

The Orinda, California, siblings wanted to help junior golfers in their Bay Area community through a fundraising project for the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant and All-Stars Helping Kids programs.

“When we learned of Leadership Links, we thought it was a great opportunity to help other aspiring golfers who may not have the financial resources to compete at the highest level," Sammy said. "Since we both grew up in the Bay Area, we also really connected with All-Stars’ mission."

All-Stars Helping Kids is an organization focused on disrupting the cycle of poverty in the Bay Area by funding start-up nonprofits and supporting programs for kids that create better access to education, career readiness, and health & wellness.

The pair raised more than $18,000 for the two organizations by sharing their mission on social media and to their networks. Though most of the donations have come from friends and family, they have received donations from strangers and other kids connecting with their goal.

“Our favorite moments are when we get notifications that young children want to help, or when we get large dollar amounts from strangers or people that we didn't expect," said Sammy. "Especially during this challenging time, it's amazing to see how generous everyone has been.”

Since 2009, more than 3,177 junior golfers have logged nearly 30,000 volunteer hours, raised nearly 3 million dollars and supported more than 2,500 charities. The Leadership Links mission is to help junior golfers make a community impact. AJGA resources and tools make giving back to the community easy and fun. To start, juniors select a charity and email Beth Dockter (bdockter@ajga.org ) to get started. A personalized website and marketing materials are then created to support fundraising goals.

Participants can choose how they want to be involved:
· Volunteer their time

· Host a State Cup Series match play event with their friends (like the Mason Cup , Carolina Cup and nearly 10 others)

· Invite community donors for golf or social functions

· Create something totally new

Proceeds are split between the junior’s charity and the AJGA’s Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant program. The ACE Grant is a financial assistance program that ensures junior golfers play in some of the top state golf tournaments by covering entry fees and travel expenses for qualified national junior golf, high school state and USGA events.

Inspiring other kids to start their own campaigns to create an even wider reach also has motivated the pair.

“This has been such a great experience to make a small difference. We hope that we can inspire other kids to get involved in this worthwhile program," Matthew said.

Support Matthew and Sammy Lin's campaign.

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