September 11 fundraiser in Manteca will support scholarships and educational opportunities for students while continuing a tradition of community philanthropy
The Luso-American Education Foundation (LAEF) will hold its 29th Annual Pelicas-Rosario Golf Tournament on Friday, September 11, 2026, at Manteca Park Golf Course, continuing one of the organization’s most important fundraising traditions in support of higher education.
For nearly three decades, the tournament has brought together members and friends of the Portuguese-American community around a simple but enduring purpose: transforming community generosity into educational opportunity. Golf may provide the setting, but scholarships—and the futures they help make possible—remain at the heart of the event.
Founded in 1963, the nonprofit Luso-American Education Foundation has made education one of the central pillars of its service to the Portuguese-American community. Through scholarships, grants and educational programming, LAEF seeks to encourage students to pursue higher education while strengthening the connections between education, heritage and community involvement.
That commitment can be measured in more than good intentions. According to LAEF, the organization has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships since its founding, including $200,300 in 2025 alone.
The Pelicas-Rosario Golf Tournament is LAEF’s largest annual fundraiser and provides an important source of support for this scholarship mission. Organizers are inviting the community to participate in several ways: by playing in the tournament, becoming an event sponsor, or making cash or in-kind contributions.
The tournament also incorporates remembrance into its spirit of giving. Through In Memoriam donations of $100, families may honor deceased loved ones, whose names and photographs will be included on a commemorative poster and slideshow. It is a particularly meaningful dimension of an event devoted to education: one generation is remembered while another is helped toward the future.
A raffle will also form part of the fundraiser, with announced prizes including a Las Vegas vacation courtesy of Linda Roldão, a case of Portuguese wine courtesy of Lino Amaral, and a $300 cash prize.
LAEF President Maria Roliz and Vice-President of Fundraising Brad Angeja are encouraging broad community participation, emphasizing that the support received ultimately benefits students pursuing their educational aspirations.
The 2026 tournament assumes additional significance during a year in which the Luso-American Education Foundation is celebrating another important milestone: its 50th Conference on Education and Culture. Together, these initiatives reflect different dimensions of the same longstanding commitment—to preserve heritage not merely by remembering the past, but by investing in those who will carry it forward.
There is, after all, something profoundly intergenerational about a scholarship. It begins with someone willing to give and ends with someone being given the possibility to learn, discover and imagine a different future. Between those two gestures lies the quiet architecture of community.
On September 11 in Manteca, golf will once again become part of that architecture—a day on the course transformed into books, classrooms, university degrees and possibilities still waiting to be written.
Deadline to register is September 1st
Click to Register via website , or email your info to education@luso-american.org,
or mail to Luso-American Education Foundation, 7080 Donlon Way#200,Dublin, CA 94568
