Baldwin County Fire Rescue sinks ‘putts’ for bacterial meningitis awareness

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) -You have probably heard of the “Ice Bucket Challenge”, now, the “Sink a Putt Challenge” is spreading through Georgia.

It’s all for 12-year-old William Thompson, who passed away in January from bacterial meningitis. His family wants to celebrate his life as well as bring awareness to the illness. Since Thompson had a love for golf, people all over the state are posting creative videos hitting a golf ball into a hole with the #SinkAPuttChallenge. Including, the Baldwin County Fire Rescue who took it to another level.

You can check out the video here.

“At the top of the contraption, we had a golf ball sitting on a traffic cone and as our recruits hoisted our mannequin, his axe, tipped the cone and dropped the ball into the gutter system,” said Baldwin County Fire Rescue recruitment trainer, Billy Benzur.

His wife, Katie Benzur, saw the challenge on social media and wanted fire rescue to join.

“I thought it’d be a really great way to honor William’s life and to bring awareness to the Sink A Putt Challenge,” said Katie Benzur.

Thompson’s parents wanted to remember him through the sport he loved.

“Being a resident of Augusta, I thought, what better stage than the Master’s to raise an awareness for this disorder and celebrate the life of William and his love of golf and what golf has meant to my family,” said Bill Thompson, William’s father.

William’s family started a hashtag, “Wear White for William” to encourage everyone to wear white at the Master’s, a golf tournament, on Wednesday. They used different outlets to spread the word.

“One place we’ve had success is the Sink A Putt Challenge and we kind of took some inspiration from the Ice Bucket Challenge, we thought it was something anybody could do with a ball and some household items,” said Thompson.

The Baldwin County Fire Rescue spent four hours creating their contraption, and got thousands of views. Something William’s dad is grateful for.

“The outpouring support from someone you’ve never met, on such a beautiful cause is really just breathtaking,” said Thompson.

William donated his organs to five different people in South Carolina. He shared a birthday with Tiger Woods. To learn more about William, visit his Facebook page.