MOREHEAD CITY — The 59th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament made its largest charitable donation ever on Wednesday in front of an exuberant crowd

at the weigh station in downtown Morehead City.

The tournament has always stressed a “charity first” motto, but that was never more clear than when it handed over a check for $262,000

to the Morehead City Salvation Army’s new building project. The massive contribution brings the Big Rock’s 2016 tournament donations to a historic level of over $500,000.

“It’s a blessing for the tournament to be able to give back to the community, and the Salvation Army is dear to our hearts,” tournament director Crystal Hesmer said.

“They offer our community a great service and we’re so happy to be able to give this to them.”

With the contribution, the Salvation Army is a few steps closer to reaching the $3.2 million goal for a new 7,500-square-foot Center for Worship and Service and 11,000-square-foot Family Store.

“It means a lot, just for the simple fact that this helps us tremendously to get into a permanent residence,” Lt. Rolland Lewis said.

“We’ve been tenants of the community for 26 years, and now we want to become a permanent fixture of the community.

We’re not going anywhere, we plan on serving this community for decades to come.”

Posted in , ,