The Golf Fore Heart charity tournament has grown steadily in its first two years, raising $30,000 in 2007 and $51,000 in 2008. The fundraiser is just hitting its stride, so I was curious as to how the current economy is affecting plans for the third tournament, scheduled for June 17 at Mountain Branch Golf Cub in Joppa. (Proceeds benefit the Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication  — SHAPE – and several local charities.)

Perhaps not surprisingly, the economy “was a worry and has proven to be an issue,” according to JoAnne Zawitoski, the event’s founder. “It’s going to be a challenge this year.”

Zawitoski, of Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, said some people and businesses want to participate but have already exhausted their charity budget – if they had a charity budget at all this year. Others have dropped down a sponsorhip level.

Zawitoski said she and other event organizers will be making “personal appeals” as June 17 draws closer.

“I’m hoping to have as good a turnout as last year,” she said, adding she anticipates the event raising “a little less” than it did in 2008.

Despite the economy, Zawitoski said the cause has made strides. SHAPE helped pass new legislation in Texas that would require insurance companies to pay for heart scans of people at risk for heart disease, and President Barack Obama has made improved preventive care a priority.

“We think this is a good year for heart attack prevention measures in state legislatures,” she said.

Two notable examples of philanthropy last week from the Maryland legal community:

• Golf Fore Heart 2008 raised more than $51,000 for the Society for Heart Attack and Prevention Education (SHAPE) on Wednesday. JoAnne Zawitoski, the event’s co-chair, said more than 100 golfers teed it up at Mountain Branch Golf Club in Joppa. Zawitoski, a principal at Semmes, Bowen & Semmes in Baltimore, started the event last year in honor of her late husband, Guy Fernandez, an avid golfer who passed away suddenly of a heart attack in four years ago. Zawitoski is also a board member of SHAPE.

• The Baltimore County Bar Association donated $10,000 to the Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County Inc. during its Stated Meeting on Thursday. The donation came out of funds remaining from a settlement in Taylor v. Savings First Mortgage LLC, a predatory-lending class action that originated in Baltimore. Savings First repaid $1.1 million to approximately 2,400 customers; as part of the settlement agreement, the crisis center was one of several charities designated to receive money not claimed by consumers. Richard S. Gordon, Kieron F. Quinn of Quinn Gordon & Wolf Chtd. in Towson and Benjamin H. Carney of the Holland Law Firm P.C. in Annapolis were lead counsel in the case.

DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer

A story about a Baltimore nonprofit is included in a newly published collection of Oprah Winfrey’s favorite articles from her magazine.

The nonprofit, named The Red Devils, borrowed its name from “The Red Devil to Hell with Cancer – and Back,” a book by breast cancer survivor Katherine Russell Rich, who got her title from the cancer drug Adriamycin, which is bright red and nicknamed “red devil.”

Rich’s book caught Winfrey’s eye, and she featured the group in the October 2006 issue of O magazine. Now, the story is included in “O’s Guide to Life: The Best of O, The Oprah Magazine” which retails for $29.95.

The Red Devils provides transportation to and from medical appointments, housecleaning, delivering meals and drug co-payment help for breast cancer patients and their families.

If you’re interested in supporting the group:

-Registration for the group’s biggest fundraiser, the annual Red Devils Heart and Sole Stroll, has begun. The walk is scheduled for the morning of Sunday, June 8 at Centennial Park in Howard County.

-February 9 from 11a.m. – 6p.m. is the group’s “Sweet Shopping” fundraiser at Belvedere Square, located at York Road and Belvedere Ave. Merchants will donate a portion of the day’s proceeds to The Red Devils.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor