Golf tournament brings in $4,000 to benefit Horizon Elementary after vandalism incident

The money will help replace items that were found damaged on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 16

  • By Nichole Osinski
  • | 11:16 p.m. February 10, 2018
  • Ormond Beach Observer
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When Matt Fretwell found out the classroom where his son attended school at Horizon Elementary had been vandalized he was disgusted, scared and worried for his child. 

Fretwell said that at first he wasn't sure what had really happened. The room where his son attended class was also where a threatening note had been found. Fretwell decided to keep his son, who is in second grade, out of school for a week. 

And while the damage to the school's 18 classrooms was extensive, there were also losses that may have seemed small but had meaning to the students and parents. Fretwell's son lost all of his artwork that was hanging up in the classroom after paint was splattered on it. 

However, on Saturday, Feb. 10, Fretwell was one of 136 golfers at Cypress Head Golf Club participating in a charity tournament to raise funds for the school and support students, like his son, as well as faculty and staff. The golfers were able to raise $4,000 for the school.

"It came at a great time because we're finding things now that are broken," Horizon Principal Gary Harms said. "The district replaced our technology but stuff we bought with school funds they don't replace, obviously we don't have school funds to replace them again."

According to Harms, the $4,000 will go toward replacing various items such as a projector, Kindles and an interactive white board that had been cleaned but later found to be broken. The latest repair to the school was replacing windows in a classroom, repainting and putting in new carpet. 

More than 100 donors have helped with the school repairs. 

Reggie Hunter, Cypress Head sales and marketing director, said they had to turn away people because of the large number of individuals wanting to participate in the golf tournament. 

Many of the golfers also had personal connections to Horizon. 

Jeanine Ingrassia's son graduated from Horizon in 2012 and lives in the same neighborhood as the school. 

"I was upset that somebody would do that in our neighborhood," Ingrassia said. "It's so disrespectful and they're just young children."

Dick Vineyard's wife taught at Horizon for 44 years and the couple filled their garage with school supplies to donate. Golfer Dale Garvin's wife, Kathy Garvin, is a teacher at Atlantic High and knew Harms when he was a teacher. 

And as Mayor Don Burnette pointed out, while the vandalism was a tragic event, it has shown how the community has rallied together in a time of need.

"Any time you have something like that happen there's a feeling of violation," Burnette said. "I'm really, really happy not just with this event, but the outpouring of support from the entire city supporting them with the supply drives."

 

 

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