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The tournament will benefit the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital. The facility treats more than 200 inpatients and 800 outpatients, according to a press release. The center "treated several local young men, including the tournament’s name sake, when they sustained life-threatening burns in a fire last year on August 18," representatives said in a press release. The tournament is named in memory of Norwalk's Michael Ness.
The fund-raiser is being organized by New Canaan chef Matthew Ness in memory of his brother and former Brien McMahon High School lacrosse team player, Michael Ness, who at age 22, died of injuries sustained in a house fire on Pettom Road in Norwalk.
"While at the Connecticut Burn Center, Ness received the finest medical care and his family was treated with the utmost compassion," representatives said in the release. "The staff and administration tended not only to the immediate medical needs of their patients, but offered extraordinary professional support to the families and friends who gathered at the unit for days on end."
The Ness family is hoping the greater Fairfield County community will help them "play forward" the acts of kindness and generosity they've received in the last eight months, according to the release.
“When our family was in the midst of this horrible and personal tragedy, the Connecticut Burn Center embraced us all, providing the finest in medical care for my brother and supporting us emotionally and physically,” said tourney co-chair Matthew Ness. “When we needed them, the Burn Center was there for us. Now we want to ‘play it forward’ in Michael’s name, so that the Burn Center will continue to be there for all who face these type of traumatic and life threatening injuries.”
The Play it Forward Michael Ness Golf Tournament will start at 1:30 p.m., May 19, at Oak Hills Golf Course in Norwalk and will be followed later that evening with a special awards reception and banquet at Continental Manor.
Residents can contact Matthew Ness at MikeNessGolfTourney@gmail.com to learn more about the event and how to make donations.
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