One of our football coaches' son had liver disease and needed a liver transplant. Even though they had insurance, the cost was still enourmous. Our school system coaches wanted to help so we organized a Golf Tournament named: "Mark Heil's Golf Tournament". We made flyers describing the purpose that the money would be used for.

The Mark Heil Golf Tournament was very successful and we were able to give the family $17,625 after expenses! As coaches usually do, we analyzed what we did and what we could have have done better. The thoughts came to us that we needed a fund to take care of our own. With that, we decided to have a fund to help coaches, officials, AD's, and players for emergency situations.

We decided to have a golf tournament in April of each year with all monies going into the Cumberland Coaches Benevelant Fund. We established a bank account and obtained a tax exempt number for all donations made to our fund to be considered tax exempt.

After several years our local officials association decided to establish their own fund which had a similar purpose. Three years passed and we decided to combine both groups and thus have one fund. We decided to expand throughout the whole region encompassing ten counties.

In 2002 the fund was renamed to the "Region Four Emergency Fund". We now have a golf tournament in the spring, usually in April or May and a second tournament in the fall, usually in October. Our non-profit organization is governed by a Board Of Directors. We are made up of Officials, Coaches, and Athletic Directors. The Board Chairperson can authorize up to a $500 donation without Board of Directors approval. Anything above $500 must be approved by the Board of Directors.

In the twenty-five years of our existance, we have given out over $200,000. This money has been given to officials, coaches, players and media personnel. We also donated $1,000 to Pine Forest High School to assist with damages sustained in the April 2011 tornado outbreak. In October 2016, $1,500 was donated to Robeson County Schools to help with damages sustained during Hurricane Matthew.

We are often contacted by coaches, principals, social workers, officials, and even parents as they see needs in our area. Helping those in need is our primary goal, however it has brought our officials and coaches together. It has allowed us to develop a very good working relationship and mutual respect for our roles.