MARYSVILLE — The Allen Creek Community Church and the Seeds of Grace Food Bank are hosting the first ever Seeds of Grace Charity Golf Tournament on Friday, Aug. 2, at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville.

“We’ve been thinking about doing a charity golf tournament here for a long time,” said Nate Crain, organizer of the event. “This is the first fundraiser we’ve ever really had. Everything that we’ve done before has been by donation or through partnerships like Northwest Harvest. We have two trucks, and volunteers go out and collect food from the stores as well.”

The Seeds of Grace Food Bank is now the second-largest food bank in Marysville, and the increase in traffic throughout the past few years has prompted the organization to start an annual fundraiser.

“This last year has boomed so much, we thought maybe we could get them a jumpstart with a charity tournament, to help with general maintenance that isn’t covered by donations,” said Crain. “All proceeds from the golf tournament will go to maintain the trucks, gas, rent, cleaning supplies, that sort of thing. Seeds of Grace is building a resource center this fall,  located on the south side of Allen Creek Community Church, so this will help to get that jump started as well.”

“We serve about 175 families a week,” said Michelle Turner, director of Seeds of Grace. “That adds up to about 500-some-odd individual adults and children a week who could use food, clothes, small household items, toys — just about whatever the community can donate, we can take in.”

During the holiday season, Seeds of Grace witnessed a 10 percent increase in their previous client base, said Turner. The food bank is always in need of more volunteers and Crain noted that they are currently looking for more drivers.

“Seeds of Grace began in 2004,” said Crain. “Over the last year it’s really started to boom. We distribute over 20,000 pounds of food per month.”

The golf tournament will be played in a four-person scramble format. Registration fees are $75 per player or $300 per team.

“There are also sponsorship opportunities for local businesses or companies that would like to sponsor the event,” said Crain. “We were hoping to get larger corporate sponsors to cover the course rental and the food so more of the $75 registration fees can go to Seeds of Grace.”

There is no age limit for the tournament and non-golfers are welcome.

Awards will be given to the top competitors, and a pulled pork and chicken dinner is included and will be served following the event at Bleachers Restaurant, inside the golf course.

Participants are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or gently-used clothing to the tournament to be collected in a bin for donation to the food bank as well.

Victory Foursquare Church is hosting a car show on July 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at their church located at 11911 State Ave. in Marysville, with proceeds also going to benefit Seeds of Grace.

For more information on the food bank visit www.ac3.org/sog. Seeds of Grace is located at 7302 44th Ave. NE, Suite B2, in Marysville. The distribution center has posted directions for drop-offs. To inquire about the golf tournament, email Crain at sog.golf@ac3.org.

Cedarcrest Golf Course is located at 6810 84th St. NE in Marysville.