PORTLAND and GRAY – The Children’s Dyslexia Center of Portland is gearing up to host their 12th annual Teddy Bear Scramble golf tournament.

The event, a fundraiser for the Center, is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 23; registration begins at 7 a.m. with a shotgun start to follow at 8:15. 

As usual, Spring Meadows Golf Club on Route 100 in Gray will host the tournament.

The competition will feature cash prizes, contests for the longest drive and the shot that lands nearest the pin, and a chance – with a hole in one – to win a car, furnished by Emerson Chevrolet. 

Entry is $70 per person, and includes greens fees, cart and a barbeque lunch.

As the Center’s press release puts it: “Millions of school children with dyslexia endure frustration daily as they struggle to acquire skills that many of us take for granted. The Children’s Dyslexia Center of Portland works to combat this by offering tutoring at no charge to children with dyslexia and similar language based learning difficulties in the Southern Maine region. The center also offers, free of charge, a course in the evidence-based Orton-Gillingham method for individuals who wish to work with children who have dyslexia. The Children’s Dyslexia Center of Portland is a nonprofit organization supported in part by the Scottish Rite Masons.”

Asked what’s new to the Center and the tournament itself since last year, Center Director Barbara Labrecque said: 

“We are now accredited by International Dyslexia Association as meeting their standards of training for teachers of reading. We remain interested in expanding our reach and impact to local school children. To that end we hope to form collaborations with school districts to train teachers within their districts with their own students.

As for the golf tournament, participation has remained steady but they’re not knocking down our doors. In 2018 we will hold our 3rd annual 15K race in Freeport. The race date next year is in April; this represents a change so that hopefully a snow event won’t impact race day. This February we will be the beneficiary non-profit of the Port Dart Tournament, a three-day event.”

For more information, Labrecque can be reached at 773-4949.

Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME.