Golfing for a Good Cause - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Dozens of people braved the heat on Monday and spent the day on the golf course. But they had a good reason.

It was the sixty-five Roses Gold Classic held at the La Crosse Country Club. This event supports the cystic fibrosis foundation. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and pancreas. The golf classic is now in its 6^th year and has raised thousands for cystic fibrosis education, treatment, and research.

Alyssa Harvey, Development manager at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation says the event has really taken off. "The President of Multistack, Mark Platt, came to us with a check and said "I want to start a golf outing in La Crosse." …And I think that first year we raised about 40 thousand dollars. And last year we raised 132 thousand dollars." Harvey says this is the second year in a row they have sold out and hope to raise 135 thousand dollars this year.

"The story behind sixty-five roses is that a woman was calling up people asking for donations for her son who had cystic fibrosis." Harvey says. "And he was young enough that he couldn't say the words "cystic fibrosis". So he told her "I know what you're raising money for mom, it's sixty-five roses." And the name kind of stuck."