Villa Maria Holds Helicopter Golf Ball Drop

What do you get when you combine a helicopter, a nun and 1,200 golf balls?

The answer: A very fun sight and $8,700.

Villa Maria Academy Lower School added a bit of spectacle to its annual Family Mass and Picnic Sunday afternoon with a helicopter golf ball drop.

For those who aren't familiar, a helicopter drop is a fundraising event in which a bucket of golf balls is poured out of a low-hovering chopper. Each ball is marked with a number corresponding to a name. The drop usually takes place at a golf course, and the owner of the ball that lands in a hole, or closest to it, wins a prize.

The Villa students sold more than 1,100 chances at $10 each or three balls for $25. Sister Mary Ellen Tennity, the principal, volunteered for bombardier duty, taking five trips up into the sky with pilot Rob Warner.

Warner, who has flown about 100 golf ball drops over the last decade, provides 1,000 golf balls with his flight services, and that's usually enough. Saturday was the first time he has needed extra.

Instead of a golf green, the balls were dropped near yellow flags on the school's athletic field. Each flag represented a prize, including a pool party and gift certificates to local businesses.

"Out of a thousand golf balls, I didn't think we'd come anywhere close to winning," said Anthony Valerio, a Villa Maria parent who went home with a gift certificate to McKenzie Brew Pub. "But I was pleasantly surprised."

The money raised will go toward the school's general programming budget, along with proceeds from a separate golf fundraiser coming up Oct. 11 at White Manor Country Club. According to marketing director Erin Tornambe, the school plans to hold another helicopter drop next year, and bombardier duty might be one of the prizes in itself.