The picture of a little girl sits on the mantle in the home of Mike Simmons, the head teaching pro at Miccosukee Golf & Country Club. The photo serves as both a painful reminder of a tragedy and a hopeful mandate to help the people of Haiti.

Years ago, Simmons and his wife, Belkis, signed a pledge to support two children in Haiti, a boy named Fednelson and a girl named Bedina.

“We considered them our adopted children,” Simmons said.

Then, on Jan. 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, killing by some estimates more than 300,000 people. After some frantic days, Simmons and his wife were told the two children they sent money to each month had survived and were doing fine.

Then, about three months after the earthquake, they received a letter telling them that the little girl, Bedina, had sustained injuries in the earthquake and died. That’s why Simmons said he will put on his Golf for Hope, Haiti charity tournament at Miccosukee every year “as long as I’m alive.”

The tournament has helped ease some of the pain that Simmons and his wife have felt. This year’s tournament will be on Feb. 25, and some 150 people in Miami will take to the Miccosukee golf course and try to raise $12,000. The strange part: People will be playing golf to help the children of a nation that doesn’t even have a golf course because the only course on the island was destroyed by the earthquake.

“The money that is raised,” Simmons said, “is just a drop in the bucket; but we must do something.”

Simmons’ hands still tremble slightly when he even talks about Bedina, but they don’t tremble nearly as much as that day when he opened that letter informing him of her death. The letter left him and his wife stunned and in tears.

“Devastation,” Simmons said of his and his wife’s reaction upon opening the letter. “We were struck with dismay. Speechless. We had been assured earlier that she was fine. This was being hit by a thunderbolt. I cried out to my wife, ‘What is going on here?’

“There was nothing but grief.”

Bedina had just turned 5 when she died. A month before the earthquake, she had sent the Simmons family a Christmas card.

Even before the earthquake, Simmons had planned a tournament to help the impoverished people of Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. It was something Simmons felt was important.

When the earthquake happened, what was important became urgent.

So one month after the earthquake, on Feb. 12, 2010, the first annual Golf for Hope, Haiti tournament was held. This year’s event will be the third one.

“It’s personal,” Simmons said.

Simmons and a friend, Gerald Little, have been the driving forces behind the tournament. Simmons works through his charity, Golf 4 Hope, and Little works through his, Love, Hope, Prosper. The collaboration came by chance. Simmons runs a golf camp at Miccosukee, and Little teaches swimming there.

“I was chatting in the pro shop one day with Gerald, and I told him I had an idea to hold a tournament for the kids of Haiti,” Simmons said. “Gerald got wide-eyed. He told me he and his wife had been working the last five years in Haiti.

“We said, ‘Let’s do this together.’ ”

The earthquake reportedly destroyed 250,000 residences, 30,000 commercial buildings and left nearly a million people homeless.

“It makes Hurricane Andrew look like nothing,” Simmons said. “Everything there was rubble. There are millions of tons of debris.”

Despite all that, Simmons is buoyed in some ways.

“Haiti is on the rebound,” he said. “We are encouraged that the country is on the move. We are trying to do what little we can to help.”

At age 78, much of Simmons’ life has revolved around golf — teaching and playing. He has shot his age on several occasions. Using golf to implement something good seems only natural to Simmons.

“This Haiti tournament is the crown jewel of my tournaments,” he said.

What else can Simmons do to help Haiti, and what else can he do to ease the pain and honor Bedina?

He has the answer. “We are in the process of adopting another child,” he said.

• If you want to enter the Golf for Hope, Haiti tournament or make a donation, call Simmons at 786-247-8215. The entry fee is $150.