Marines aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar worked together with GuideOn, a local charity group, to plan and help run the Inaugural GuideOn Charity Golf Tournament at the Admiral Baker Golf Course June 9.

Along with the Marines who helped organize the event, several members of the Single Marine Program and other Marines from the air station volunteered to help with the event.

Money raised at the event will be used to fund GuideOn events for children who have lost a parent during the War on Terrorism.

“We’d only been planning this event for five weeks,” said Sgt. John Anderson, a MCAS Miramar Marine who helped plan the event. “We chose to hold a golf tournament because golf is a social sport that helps bring people together.”

James D. Clark founded the group after a friend of his was killed in Iraq. Clark wondered who would serve as an adult role model for the fallen warrior’s children, according to the GuideOn Web site.

Members of the group spend time with the children of service members who were killed in combat, explained Anderson.

On a recent kayaking trip, Anderson saw first hand the impact losing their parents had on children.

“We were out on the water and one of the kids looked up at me and said ‘My daddy is over the horizon, but he’s never coming back,’” said Anderson. “It was a really touching moment, to realize that he knew his dad wasn’t coming back. Kids are innocent victims in this war and even though they know their parent isn’t coming home, they might not realize why.”

The group plans to use the money it raised during the tournament to create more opportunities and events for the children.

Currently, the group runs summer camps in San Diego and Montana and plans to expand the programs with the additional funds.

Two teams tied for first place with a 13 under par performance. Two teams tied for second with a 12 under par finish. For more information on GuideOn, visit www.GuideOn.org.