The day before her family’s annual golf tournament, Terry Mudryk-Harbarenko is busy marking a checklist to ensure everything is ready.
From celebrity bookings to menus to volunteers, the checklist is the culmination of 11 months of work for her to help make the annual Brian Mudyrk Golf Classic happen, she said.
It is an event she has headed for the past 15 years.
“Literally, every little thing from wine glasses to plates to forks to knives. Every little detail had to go through my hands,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said.
Those years of dedication helped the fundraiser accumulate $1.8 million for the Cross Cancer Institute and earned Mudryk-Harbarenko the 2017 Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the Edmonton chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Mudryk-Harbarenko said she accepted the award not solely for herself, but for all the volunteers that helped make the tournament a success in Boyle each year.
“I was just sort of the captain of the ship,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said, adding that all the volunteers and golfers made the tournament possible. “I’m very honored to take that award on behalf of those people in our small community. It’s not very often that small towns get recognition in a big way.”
The tournament was a family affair. Her son and the tournament’s namesake, Brian Mudryk, inspired the tournament after a three-year battle with cancer, according to Mudryk-Harbarenko. After being treated at Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute and surviving, Brian wanted to give back and raise a million dollars for it.
“I just thought sure, Brian, we’d do that. In the back of my mind, I had no idea how we were going to begin, but I knew that we had the tools to start,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said in a video produced to celebrate her award.
Thus, the Bryan Mudryk Golf Classic began, attracting many celebrities over the years to help raise money. The event has also created several spinoff companion events, including long-distance cycling ride and stair climbs.
Mudryk-Harbarenko said one of the most memorable aspects of the tournament has been the emotions that emerge during the event. These include the joys of the stories of cancer survivors to the sadness of remembering those lost to the disease.
“Heartwarming stories of survivors and of course very, very tough losses of those who didn’t make it. All those emotions of the triumphs, of the little things that, I guess, made life worth living,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said. “Probably the best memory is of all those people that were able to share their stories.”
In addition to helping Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute, with money going towards things such as new equipment, the golf classic also helped students fighting cancer. From 2009, the event gave out scholarships to those attending post-secondary education while battling cancer.
Kali Cousins received a $1,000 scholarship through the program. During her battle with leukemia, Cousins said the scholarship made a big difference to her.
“While I was sick, I couldn’t work,” Cousins said. “It was a big relief and it was very rewarding to get it.”
Cousins would go on to help with the fundraiser every year after receiving the scholarship. She said that Mudryk-Harbarenko made her feel very welcome, and they have become friends.
“She was so friendly and very inviting and definitely went out of her way to make you feel you weren’t just somebody who was pulled out of a hat,” Cousins said. “She made you feel like you were important, and that she wanted to help you with what you’re going through.”
Carrie Creaser of the Alberta Cancer Foundation nominated Mudryk-Harbarenko for the outstanding philanthropist award. Having helped with the fundraiser before joining the foundation, Creaser said she knew Mudryk-Harbarenko was a worthy recipient.
“I knew she deserved it for all her hard work,” Creaser said, adding that she also wanted to celebrate her due to the golf classic coming to an end in 2017. “Since the tournament is the last I felt it was important to honour.”
After 15 years, the Mudryk family is ending the Brian Mudryk Golf Classic in its current form.
“It was a pretty good run,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said. “We set our goals at a million. We ended up with $1.8 million. I think for myself, I just needed a break to refocus and just see where we’re going to go from here.”
However, the move is far from the end of the family’s efforts to raise money to fight cancer. The Williams & Mudryk 100k for the Cross bike fundraiser is planned to go ahead in 2018. Mudryk-Harbarenko said people also want to continue the other companion events to the golf classic.
She said the family might also incorporate the golf tournament into their cancer fundraising in the future, although not necessarily in the same form.
“Give some time to see how we can fit it all this year and make it great, but make it different,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said. “Going to branch out a bit.”
As the Brian Mudryk Golf Classic enters the history books, Mudryk-Harbarenko said one of the best rewards of it all was the people she got to meet who helped make it a success.
“All the people, good friends, long-time friends over this 15-year charity, my heart melts,” Mudryk-Harbarenko said. “Such a rewarding part of this whole journey for me was the people that we had met along the way.”
Thank you to those who sponsored this edition of Difference Makers: Tracy Zimmer from The Medicine Shoppe, Joan Nelson with Re/Max, and the Village of Boyle.
