Vista firefighters thanked the community this week after another Andy Valenta Memorial Charity Golf Tournament.

Players showed up.

Volunteers showed up.

Sponsors, donors and supporters showed up.

Which is basically how the fire service says “we’ve got you” without putting it on a Hallmark card.

This year’s tournament benefited Vista Fire Engineer Jimmy Williams and his family, according to Vista Firefighters’ post thanking everyone who played, volunteered, donated, sponsored and participated.

The event carries the name of Andy Valenta, the Vista firefighter-paramedic who died from occupational cancer in 2021 at age 33.

That makes this more than a golf tournament.

It is a memorial with tee times.

A fundraiser with dinner.

And, most of all, a reminder that firefighters have a very particular way of remembering their own:

They help the next family standing in the hard place.

Andy’s Name Still Does Work

The 2026 Andy V Memorial Golf Tournament was presented by the Vista Fire Fighters Association Local 4107 at The Havens Country Club, 29354 Vista Valley Drive.

The event page listed registration at 9 a.m. and tee time at 11 a.m., with proceeds benefiting Vista Fire Engineer Jimmy Williams.

That beneficiary detail matters.

Because the tournament is not just about honoring Andy Valenta in the past tense.

It uses his name to take care of people in the present.

That is a different kind of memorial.

Not marble.

Not a plaque people walk past.

A working memorial.

One that turns golfers, sponsors, raffles, dinners and community goodwill into actual support for a firefighter family.

The Backstory Is Heavy

Andy Valenta served with the Vista Fire Department for 11 years.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation describes him as a Vista firefighter-paramedic who was hired in 2012, stayed with Vista through the end of his career and was honored as Firefighter of the Year in 2013.

In 2021, Andy was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and died three months later.

He left behind his wife, Caylie, and their two young daughters.

There is no tidy way to write that.

No clever transition that makes it easier.

It is awful.

But what happened afterward is the reason his name keeps coming up in Vista civic life.

Andy’s death helped spark both melanoma-prevention work through the Andy Valenta Melanoma Foundation and this continuing firefighter charity tradition that helps other first responder families facing hard seasons.

Grief did not end the story.

It got put to work.

This Year, the Help Went to Jimmy Williams

Vista Firefighters’ post said this year’s tournament benefited Engineer Jimmy Williams and his family.

The post did not describe Williams’ circumstances, and North Valley Flare is not going to fill in private medical or family details that were not publicly stated in the source material.

That boundary matters.

What is public is enough: the local firefighter community identified one of its own as needing support, and the tournament rallied around him and his family.

That is the firehouse version of mutual aid.

Same instinct.

Different emergency.

Instead of engines and hoses, it was foursomes, sponsorships, donations and people giving up time so a family would not feel alone.

Sometimes support looks like a rescue scene.

Sometimes it looks like a golf cart and a raffle table.

Both count.

The Fundraiser Has Become Part of the Culture

The Vista Fire Fighters Association describes its charity committee as raising money through community events, social media efforts and annual fundraisers, including its golf tournament.

That committee has a history of directing money to families facing serious hardship.

In 2025, the City of Vista Fire Department newsletter reported that Local 4107 presented funds raised through the 2024 Andy Valenta Memorial Golf Tournament to recipients connected with Fallbrook Firefighters and Murrieta Firefighters. The total raised was $27,000.

That gives this year’s thank-you post more context.

It is not one nice afternoon on a course.

It is part of a pattern.

Vista firefighters have built an event that remembers Andy by helping other people carry what he and his family had to carry.

That is the quiet power of a fundraiser when it is done right.

It does not erase the hard thing.

It makes sure the hard thing is not carried alone.

Community, but Not the Fluffy Kind

“Community” is one of those words that gets used so often it can start to feel like wallpaper.

Here, it means something specific.

It means someone bought a sponsorship.

Someone donated.

Someone volunteered.

Someone played badly for a good cause and did not even complain about the back nine.

Probably.

The Vista Firefighters post said the group could not do the event without its community, friends and supporters.

That is standard thank-you language.

But in this case, it is also the entire operating model.

A firefighter family needed help.

A memorial tournament carried Andy’s name forward.

And Vista showed up with clubs, checks, time and whatever dignity remains after a person slices a drive into another ZIP code.

That is a good day.

Even if the scorecard says otherwise.

Questions You May Have About the Andy Valenta Memorial Charity Golf Tournament

Who hosted the tournament?

The 2026 Andy V Memorial Golf Tournament was presented by the Vista Fire Fighters Association Local 4107.

Who benefited this year?

Vista Firefighters said this year’s tournament benefited Vista Fire Engineer Jimmy Williams and his family.

Where was the tournament held?

The event page lists The Havens Country Club at 29354 Vista Valley Drive as the tournament location.

Who was Andy Valenta?

Andy Valenta was a Vista firefighter-paramedic who died from occupational cancer in 2021 at age 33 after being diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma.

Why does the tournament matter?

It keeps Andy’s name tied to active support for firefighter families, using a memorial event to raise money for people facing difficult circumstances now.