When Brandon and Dustin Johnson of Signal Mountain set out on their capstone project for Baylor School, they had high hopes. Their idea, a nonprofit golf tournament with proceeds going to benefit local medical charity Project Access, sounded great, and they were confident they could make a real difference.
They didn’t realize, though, just how much of a difference they would make.
The tournament, titled the Project Access Classic, is being held Monday, April 18 at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club, and Dustin and Brandon had raised nearly $40,000 as of two weeks before the tournament. The brothers said they couldn’t be more excited with how it’s turned out. Eighteen teams of four have already signed up.
“We definitely didn’t expect this level of success,” said Brandon. “We’re so honored and fortunate that we’ve found the success we have.”
“We hope the Project Access Classic can lighten the load for local families and show other kids that age doesn’t matter; we can all do things to serve others around us,” Dustin added.
The pair has worked tirelessly to organize the event since around September 2015. They put together pamphlets and presentations for major companies in the Hamilton County area to try to garner support for the tournament. Among the sponsors they’ve gotten are 3H Group Hotels, Hospice of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Coca-Cola and MoonPie, just to name a few.
“We must have done so many presentations that I’ve lost count,” Dustin said with a laugh. “We definitely learned that organizing a golf tournament isn’t easy.”
Although the brothers said it was difficult to get up and pitch their idea to local business leaders, they said their youth and work ethic made a difference in their success.
Project Access is an initiative by Medical Foundation of Chattanooga that was started in 2004 and is dedicated to making health care more affordable to Hamilton County’s most destitute residents. The group has donated over $138 million worth of medical supplies and services since its inception, and has a team of around 20 community partners and hospitals and 900 physicians who volunteer their time for the benefit of the impoverished in Hamilton County.
The boys’ father, Darrell Johnson, is an oncologist in Chattanooga who frequently works with Project Access. Brandon said their father’s work with the program opened their eyes to the depth of assistance many in the community need, and was what led them to select Project Access as the beneficiary of the tournament.
“They [Dustin and Brandon] have really put in so much work from concept to end,” said Rae Bond, executive director of the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga. “When they came to our board and presented their concept, we enthusiastically embraced it.”
Bond said it was a “huge source of encouragement” to see young people in the community work so hard to help those less fortunate. Building sustaining support in the community is always a challenge, she said, and for the Johnson brothers to proactively start something positive was inspiring to see.
“We would do it all over again, and we hope that the Project Access Classic becomes an annual event,” said Dustin.
To donate to the Project Access Classic, make donations payable to the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga and mail to Brandon and Dustin Johnson, P.O. Box 370, Signal Mountain, Tenn., 37377.