FORT DODGE – A new golf tournament being held next month will serve as a fundraiser for a program dedicated to helping people who have been victims of violent crimes and relatives of homicide victims.

The inaugural Tee-d Off Against Violence Golf Tournament will be held Sept. 23 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

Proceeds from the program will go toward the Homicide/Other Violent Crimes Program, which is a part of the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center.

The cost is $200 per team, $50 per person.

The tournament was organized by Dan Shepard, who is friends with Marie Harvey, the program supervisor of the Homicide/Other Violent Crimes Program.

“I’m always looking for ways to raise money and do what I can,” Shepard said. “It’s just something I thought of one day.”

He described the tournament as being a “four-person best shot,” which means each team consists of four people, and they can be anybody.

“We’re going to serve a lunch,” he said. “It’s going to be a freewill donation lunch. We’re giving plenty of ways of donating to D/SAOC on the golf course.”

Lefti’s and Tom Thumb will be providing food for the lunch, while Coca-Cola and Blue Ribbon Pelham Waters will be providing beverages.

There will also be raffles and prizes throughout the day.

Shepard said the tournament is meant to be relaxed.

“This isn’t going to be a professional golf tournament by any means,” he said. “It’s intended just to get everybody together and have some fun and enjoy the day and do some good for D/SAOC.”

“And raise some awareness,” Harvey added.

Once the golf tournament is done, Harvey said the event will continue. A silent auction, along with an awards ceremony, will be held at the Eagles Ballroom, 1018 First Ave. N.

Shepard said SwaggerZ donated the ballroom for the event.

While the tournament is on the same day as the Downtown Country Jam, Harvey said people who are interested in attending both can do so.

“We realize that’s the same night as LOCASH performing,” she said. “But given where the Eagles Ballroom is, they can come to the silent auction and go to the concert.”

“They can just walk right over there,” Heather Stanley, a homicide/other violent crimes specialist, added.

Downtown Country Jam begins at 6 p.m., which is the same time the silent auction ends.

Harvey said anybody can attend the silent auction, even if they didn’t participate in the golf tournament.

Among the items available at the silent auction include airfare and tickets for the Minnesota Vikings, signed autographs from the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, two Iowa State University football tickets, one pizza per month for a year offered by Lefti’s and Papa Murphy’s, as well as golf gift certificates for area golf courses for next year.

Shepard said he’d like to see between 18 and 20 teams this year, and said he’d also like to see the tournament grow.

“I’d really like this to be the seed that gets planted and really grow this thing for years to come and make it a big event,” he said. “That’s what I’d like to see — 36 to 38 teams and a full field and a couple hundred people involved.”

For this year, he said if 18 teams played, that would mean there are 72 players.

“And then let’s fill that ballroom,” he said. “That ballroom fits about 300 people. Let’s get that full and get that auction going good.”

Harvey said the money raised will be helpful towards D/SAOC’s Homicide/Other Violent Crimes Program, which saw its budget get cut earlier this year.

That money goes toward helping victims of violent crimes, including homicide.

She said, among the expenses the money goes toward include hotel rooms and medications for people that need them.