The Waste Management 2012 Charity Golf Tournament, which was held Wednesday and Thursday at The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge, drew more than 160 people representing a variety of corporations throughout North America. The evening event raised more than $500,000 for local charities, including Lake Washington Schools Foundation, Hopelink and Mountains to Sound Greenway.

City of Redmond Mayor John Marchione attended the event along with David Steiner, chief executive officer of Waste Management, and Jason Rose, new area vice president of Waste Management’s Pacific Northwest area.

This is the first time the annual corporate event was held in the Pacific Northwest. More money was raised this year than any other golf tournament in Waste Management’s history.

“This year’s event was an outstanding success,” said Mary Evans, Waste Management’s area public sector director. “Being chosen as this year’s location for the Waste Management Charity Golf Tournament was a wonderful opportunity to host our vendor partners, corporate senior leadership and elected officials while giving back to local organizations that do incredible work throughout our communities in King County.”

The three recipient organizations will benefit from Waste Management’s donations in the following ways:

Lake Washington Schools Foundation

Waste Management’s contribution of $225,000 will complete the funding for three new “Signature Programs” within the new STEM high school: Environmental Engineering & Sustainable Design, Global Engineering and Medical Bio-Engineering.

Hopelink

Waste Management will be investing $150,000 to help Hopelink eradicate hunger through creating and implementing an inventory and logistics system for their five food banks located throughout King County.

Mountains to Sound Greenway

Waste Management’s investment of $150,000 is going to help fund the re-opening of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River through more than 40 projects over the next two years.