OTTAWA, Ontario – Colin Zappia and Scott Johnson have a few things in common. Both men have roots in Cornwall, and both lost their dads to heart disease.
It is this common shared history that lead the two to want to organize a fundraiser in support of the Ottawa Heart Institute.
Zappia, an Ottawa realtor, started to support the Heart Institute through his employer.
In previous years, Zappia has donated a part of his commission from home sales to the Institute, a fact he shared on LinkedIn, which caught Scott Johnson’s attention and he offered to match.
It was in 2018 that the idea to hold a 24 Hours of Golf presented by Sutton started to form.
“I always wanted to do something like a golf tournament,” said Zappia. “We pitched the idea to the Heart Institute and they loved it.”
Johnson explained that supporting the Heart Institute is something that is personally important to him.
“Mainly to honour my dad who passed away from a heart attack and to raise funds for this world class facility that has also counted other family members of mine as patients,” he said.
The event will run from noon on April 26 until noon on April 27 at Golf-O-Max in Ottawa.
There will be 16 teams broken down into foursomes playing in six hour shifts.
To register is $100 and the pair are challenging each participant to raise $500. Each participant who reaches the $500 goal will have their $100 refunded.
Colin’s father moved to Cornwall in 1951 and he both played and coached for the Cornwall Royals. Later, his family opened Zappia’s Restaurant in Cornwall.
Scott’s father was Ron Johnson, who was well known as the bartender at Winners Sports Bar.
“Ideally this is something that becomes a yearly event and we continue to grow and improve the experience for the participants and ultimately grow our fundraising totals year over year,” said Scott.