Last hurrah for Van de Ven MS fundraiser
FILE PHOTO
Kevin and Kathy Van de Ven, pictured, have long been noted for hosting the annual “A Round for Research” charity golf tournament at Mozingo Lake. However, with Kevin Van de Ven’s transfer to Jackson, Mississippi, where he serves as general manager of a Nucor Corp. steel mill, the popular golf outing, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, has come to a close. Instead, the Van de Vens will host a final “A Round for Research” dance party Oct. 9 at Burny’s Upper Deck.
After a 17-year run at Mozingo Lake, the “A Round for Research” multiple sclerosis charity golf tournament on behalf of the National MS Society has sunk its last putt.
Instead, event founder Kathy Van de Ven will host an evening dance party at Burny’s Upper Deck on the Maryville square beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9.
The reason for the change is that Van de Ven’s husband, Kevin Van de Ven, former general manager of Nucor-LMP, has accepted a position as general manager of a Nucor facility in Jackson, Mississippi.
Kathy Van de Ven plans on remaining in Maryville as the couple’s daughter completes her senior year of high school, but will then join her husband in Jackson.
The gathering at Burny’s will begin with appetizers and feature live entertainment by Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, a new New Orleans-based ensemble that mixes traditional zydeco with rhythm and blues, funk, rock and roll, reggae, and pop.
Dopsie and other members of the band grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, and together possess more than 100 years of experience playing zydeco, an African American dance music indigenous to southern Louisiana that features complex rhythmic interplay between the accordion, guitar, and other instruments.
Proceeds from the gathering will help fund the Kathy Van de Ven Research Grant, which through the golf tournament and other events over the years has raised nearly $700,000 in support of research conducted by Dr. Moses Rodriguez at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
In addition to collecting money to further the fight against MS, Van de Ven said the fundraiser will be a chance for her and her family to “honor our great community that we’ve called home for the past 18 years.”
“How fun it’s been sharing this wonderful place with our friends and family each year when our golf tournament brought us all together,” Van de Ven said. “It’s been a great run, and we plan to bid farewell in grand style.”
Tax-deductible online donations to the Kathy Van de Ven Research Grant can be made via www.supportmsresearch.org.
