WS Chronicle

The name Bill Hayes rings bells all around Winston-Salem and the Triad as a whole.  The legendary former Winston-Salem State and North Carolina A&T State University head football coach is leading the charge to help the college-bound seniors of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church with a “Swing for Scholarships” golf tournament to be held at the Winston Lake Golf Course on Sept. 15.

Each year Galilee provides a $2,000 scholarship to college seniors to help them with tuition, books or items needed for their dorms.  According to Hayes and longtime Galilee member James Berry, the number of students graduating in 2018 is much larger than in year’s past.

“This coming year, we estimate right around 20 kids that will graduate from high school who are members or affiliated with Galilee Missionary Baptist Church,” Hayes said.  “Our goal is to give each one of those kids that graduate $2,000 toward their college education.”

Each student must complete several requirements for next year to be eligible for the scholarship.  In order to accommodate all of the students, the organizers of the tournament are asking people from the community at large to participate in the tournament.

Hayes and Berry said this project is not just the responsibility of the scholarship committee and those involved with the golf tournament.  They say it is going to take the entire church to make their goal come to fruition. 

“The way coach [Hayes] and I talked about it is we just went to the church we just said this is a church function and not just for the golf committee,” said Berry.  “This is for the church and our kids, you know.”

“Everybody has to get their hair cut somewhere, their clothes cleaned, their car worked on and even buy gas,” he continued.  “I just said go to the people you spend money with and simply ask them, ‘Can you help us out with this project my church is putting together for the kids?

The goal for the event is to have 72 golfers come out to participate in the tournament, which is 18 teams of four golfers, one team per hole to “fill up the course” as it was stated by Berry. 

For Hayes, this is just a continuation on what he has been about for years and that’s helping out the youth.  He says this is a great way to pull the community together as one while also helping out the next generation.

“We are just working for one goal and that’s the children because that’s what I care about,” said Hayes.  “We have to take care of the children and pool our efforts together to help improve their lives. That’s what I have been about my whole life.”

To have the chance to help out the young people of  the church, Hayes says that is what he lives for now.  Berry says he is more than happy to do whatever he can to help the younger generation. 

For individuals who wish to not participate in the tournament by golfing, there are other ways to help out, such as sponsoring a team, sponsoring an individual player, sponsor a whole, donate door prizes or gift cards and monetary donations.

Hayes and Berry say they plan to continue to have the tournament in years to come because of the rising number of young people in the church and the rising tuition costs at institutions of higher learning.

For more information about the tournament, call Bill Hayes at 336-251-5549 or James Berry at 336-682-5157. To donate funds, send them to GMBC Scholarship Fund at P.O. Box 30113 Winston-Salem, NC 27130.