03/17/2025
Hard Hats with Heart
A Hole in One for Heart Health
On a perfect sunny morning, NEXT Electric hosted its first VIP Golf Event, ‘The Drive,’ aiming to raise funds for the American Heart Association’s Hard Hats with Heart initiative. With a goal to surpass last year’s $350,000 mark, the stakes were high. But did we hit our target?
It was a sunny and clear Friday morning, nothing like it was only days ago when bands of thunderstorms brought showers and threats of tornados to areas of Wisconsin. It was perfect weather to golf! As 8:00 A.M. approached, the Western Lakes Golf Course was teeming with electric blue polo shirts as NEXT Electric team members hurried about preparing to host its first VIP Golf Event titled ‘The Drive.’ The event would be funding an initiative of The American Heart Association (AHA) called Hard Hats with Heart.
“Hard Hats with Heart is an industry-specific initiative from the American Heart Association to improve the cardiovascular health of those working within the construction industry,” said Liz Martin, Development Director of the American Heart Association (AHA) in Milwaukee who could be found wearing her red Association jacket in the sea of blue shirts. “The campaign’s focus is to integrate health, well-being and prevention solutions into the culture of the industry” she continued.
NEXT Electric began its work with Hard Hats with Hearts over 12 years ago. Around 2013, that involvement grew when NEXT President, Chris Surges, was asked to serve on the twelve-member board. Efforts from the leadership of the board helped the organization successfully raise approximately $350,000 in 2023! This year, Chris was asked by members to serve as chair. His immediate goal for Hard Hats with Hearts was to break their 2023 achievement of $350,000 through the efforts of this golfing event and others through the year. Chris understood that each dollar raised creates a safer working environment and training across the construction industry. With June being National Safety Month, the first is week is dedicated AED awareness—an American Heart Association initiative these works fund.
Although NEXT is known in Milwaukee for its community outreach and efforts, this event would be a first for their team. Nate DeYoung, Marketing Assistant at NEXT charged with coordinating the event, was busy finishing up pre-event details as VIP’s and guests began arriving. “We’re excited that today is finally here!” said Nate of the event. “Our hope was to create an atmosphere of fun and competition while creating networking opportunities among our participants” he stated.
As VIP’s and guests began arriving, the NEXT Electric team launched into action. Chris could be seen briskly engaging his guests, shaking hands and joking as golf bags were loaded to carts prior the shotgun start. “We’re feeling really good about beating last year’s numbers…” said Chris pointing at the several rows of parked golf carts, “… we’re at $36,000 presently, and each cart represents $3,500— with our auction and other plans this year, I feel we’ll do it.”
Before the morning networking window ended at 10:00 A.M., the event was in full swing (no pun intended) with over a hundred delighted participants ready for NEXT level fun.
As this hopeful event came to a close, we’re glad to report that NEXT Electric reached its goals for this event. Congratulations and thank you, NEXT, on raising funds to keep men and women across the construction industry safe!
