Ceres Marks 10 Years Of Pushing Hope Tournament
Ceres Barge Line will mark a decade as host of the Pushing Hope Annual Marine Industry Charity Tournament August 21, continuing an inland river tradition that brings companies together for competition, fellowship and cancer research.
The 2026 event will be held at The Woodlands Golf Club in Alton, Ill., with two four-person scramble flights. Registration is at 6 a.m. and noon, with starts at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. A seafood boil and music will begin at 5 p.m., with the check presentation set for 6 p.m.
Although Ceres is celebrating its 10th year coordinating Pushing Hope, the tournament’s roots reach back more than four decades. Consolidated Grain & Barge began a river industry charity softball tournament in the early 1980s. MEMCO continued the event beginning in 1999, followed by AEP River Operations, which held it for 17 years and raised more than $885,000 for charity.
Ceres Consulting LLC assumed responsibility for the event in 2016. Activities have changed, but the purpose has remained the same: giving the inland marine industry an opportunity to gather while raising money for cancer research.
Monica Seymour and Jill Goewey now lead much of the tournament planning. Both joined Ceres after long careers at National Maintenance. Goewey spent 25 years there, while Seymour spent 27 years with the company and participated in the tournament before joining Ceres.
In their first year helping with the event, it still included softball and golf, but they added a cornhole tournament. When the ball diamond in Kirkwood, Mo., closed, Seymour and Goewey were tasked with finding a new location. They selected Alton, initially hoping to keep softball and golf together at Gordon Moore Park.
Interest in softball had declined, however, and organizers consolidated the tournament into a one-day golf event with food and evening activities.
“We just strictly went to a one-day event, throwing together the seafood boil and everything, all in the one day,” Goewey said.
The change reduced Ceres’ expenses while allowing more of the money raised to go directly to the cause. Fundraising has continued to grow since the change.
Over the broader 12-year cancer research effort, organizers estimate that the industry has raised more than $2.5 million. Much of that support was initially directed to Mary Crowley Cancer Research, which developed a close relationship with the river industry and Pushing Hope.
In 2025, after Mary Crowley became part of a for-profit company, Ceres began searching for another nonprofit research partner. Seymour and Goewey reviewed several organizations, including their finances and donation policies, before selecting Gateway for Cancer Research.
Gateway, based in the Chicago area, funds early-phase cancer clinical trials. The organization states that 100 percent of donations go directly to clinical research, with administrative expenses covered separately.
“They’re kind of like Ceres,” Seymour said. “One hundred percent of everything that is raised goes toward trials and research.”
Goewey said that structure aligned with the tournament because Ceres covers operating costs, allowing entry fees, sponsorships, raffle proceeds and other contributions to be directed to research.
The Pushing Hope story is also carried throughout the inland waterways by Big Hope 1, a Ceres-owned barge launched in 2012. Painted in a colorful design representing all forms of cancer, the barge remains in year-round commercial service while serving as a moving symbol of the industry’s fundraising mission.
Sherwin-Williams donated the paint and labor for both of the barge’s paint jobs. Since its launch, Big Hope 1 has become a familiar sight on the river system, regularly photographed and shared by mariners and river observers.
The barge gives the campaign a presence beyond the tournament. While the golf outing lasts one day, Big Hope 1 carries the message throughout the year as it moves cargo.
This year’s tournament will retain its four-person scramble format and focus on companies connected to the river industry. The field typically fills both flights, with many companies returning each year.
Competition is only part of the draw. Seymour and Goewey have continued adding games and informal contests to keep the atmosphere relaxed. This year’s additions include a spinning-wheel challenge on the practice green, with golfers facing different putting tasks, including a blindfolded “Stevie Wonder Putt.”
Other activities include Hoops for Hope, poker hands, pull tabs, raffles and roaming Jell-o shot sales.
“People aren’t playing so much for seriousness,” Goewey said. “They are just out there having fun with each other and having a good time, and the camaraderie of it.”
That camaraderie remains one of the tournament’s defining features. The event gives operators, shipyards, vendors and service companies a chance to reconnect outside normal business settings while contributing to a cause that has touched nearly every company and family in the industry.
For Ceres, the 10th anniversary is both a milestone and a continuation. The format has evolved from softball fields to golf fairways, and the research partner has changed, but the industry’s commitment has remained steady.
Big Hope 1 will continue carrying that commitment along the inland waterways, while Pushing Hope brings it ashore for another day of competition, fellowship and support for cancer patients and researchers.
Featured photo caption: Ceres Barge Line’s Big Hope 1 carries its cancer-awareness message while in commercial service. (Photo courtesy of Ceres Barge Line)
