Savannah's Organic Ranch Raises $100,000 During Golf Tournament

The 5th annual Golf Tournament, the foundation’s largest fundraiser of the year, met their goal of $100,000 raised during the May 24 event.

Joe Sachen, Savannah’s Organic Ranch CEO, said he remembers a time when SOR board members wondered if they’d ever raise this much money.

“We set $100,000 as our goal and we made it,” he said.

With a sold out tournament and dinner this was the highest attended event for the foundation as well. Bob Rieden, chairman for SOR, said this was by far the most successful tournament to date.

“Having the support from the community is my favorite part of putting on our golf tournament/banquet. There are a lot of people that have attended every golf tournament and it’s also nice to see new faces too,” he said. ”It’s also nice to see local company executives now starting to support our cause.  We believe it starts from the inside out and that all starts with our wonderful community that has supported us from day one. [It’s] only getting better and better.”

Joe and Lisa Sachen created Savannah’s Organic Ranch in honor of their daughter, Savannah, who lost her battle with cancer in 2007. It was Savannah’s dream to open a ranch that would teach children and adults the importance of organic farming and healthy eating. She wanted the good food to make others feel better—the way it helped her while undergoing cancer treatments.

Joe and Lisa promised their daughter that they would build her a ranch and the proceeds from the tournament bring them another step closer. Joe said this was a special year for the tournament. It was the fifth anniversary of the event and the first year since SOR received a land lease for their proposed organic ranch and community gardens. The 24-acres is located along Wood Canyon next to Soka University.

“Now that we have the land it is something concrete that we now can share instead of it being a dream,” Rieden said. “People are really wanting to support and see us accomplish our goal of building a community center that we will be able to share with our city and other surrounding cities.”

Joe said Rieden and himself began planning the 2012 tournament about six months ago and easily put in 200 hours of work planning the event.

“This tournament could not happen if it wasn’t for all of our gracious sponsors, the amazing volunteer force, generous golfers and dinner guests, along with the golf committee and our great board of directors,” Joe said. “However, the one person I owe more than anything to, who actually is in charge of this event and makes it happen every year, is my very good friend and chairman of savannahs ranch—Bob Rieden. This is his baby and he knocks out of the park every time.”

This year’s event was the first themed tournament, bringing a taste of Hawaii (one of Savannah’s favorite places) to Aliso Viejo. Special merchandise with a hibiscus flower added to the SOR logo was given away during the tournament.

Savannah’s Organic Ranch will be making a $3,000 donation toward the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation in the names of the first, second and third place tournament winners, as well as the first place women’s team winners.

While the excitement and exhaustion is still fresh, Joe said there is much work still to be done. The ranch is currently in the due diligence stage of planning, meaning Savannah’s Organic Ranch is working closely with a variety of organizations and government programs to take their next step. Before any building can be done SOR must work with the Aliso Viejo Community Association, the City of Aliso Viejo, Fish and Game and the Coastal Commission while also conducting a variety of studies like environmental impact studies, geology studies and traffic/parking studies.

Once they make it through this stage, their multiphase plans include fencing, parking, community gardens, growing areas (for fruit orchards and flowers) and the Leeds Certified buildings, like the proposed learning center.

“The tournament was a very special night with a lot of good moments that [will lead us to] a very positive future, but there is a lot of work to be done,” Joe said.

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Read more about Savannah's life and the mission of growth set forth by foundation created in her memory.