PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The PGA TOUR wrapped up its Golf Fore Groceries food drive at the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston on Monday. The food drives at TPC Network Clubs and PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour events -- along with a virtual food drive established in conjunction with non-profit organization Feeding America -- raised more than 213,000 pounds of food to provide hunger-relief for Americans in need.
More than 1,200 volunteer hours went into making the summer campaign a success, and the PGA TOUR's promotional support of the program generated close to 26 million impressions in an effort to encourage Americans to become involved with the United We Serve initiative.
The TOUR committed to joining the White House's call to action when United We Serve was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in late June. The TOUR utilized its media assets to bring attention to United We Serve and drive fans to the initiative's Web site, Serve.gov, and it also launched a TOUR-wide Golf Fore Groceries program, which ran from Aug. 17 through Sept. 7. During the three-week period, PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour tournaments and TPC Network clubs around the country collected non-perishable food items and monetary donations to benefit local food banks. The following tournaments participated:
• PGA TOUR -- Wyndham Championship, The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship
• Nationwide Tour -- Christmas in October Classic, Northeast Pennsylvania Classic
• Champions Tour -- JELD-WEN Tradition, Boeing Classic, Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach
"This summer has served as a great example of the TOUR's charity platform, 'Together, anything's possible,'" PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "As an organization, we are fortunate to have players and their wives, volunteers, club members, employees and fans who are just as passionate about giving back as we are. On this National Day of Service and Remembrance, we are happy to celebrate a successful Summer of Service and encourage our constituents to continue to answer the President's call to engage in service activities and charitable endeavors."
The TOUR brought together various constituents to make its summer of service a success. Seventeen clubs in the TPC Network held food drives, spanning the nation from TPC San Francisco Bay to TPC Jasna Polana in Princeton, N.J. TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., the site of the PGA TOUR's John Deere Classic, raised the most food and money at 142 pounds and $2,829, winning the inter-club competition.
"The PGA TOUR, with the combined force of its volunteers, employees, players and their wives, has demonstrated a substantial commitment to answering the President's call to service. Together, their efforts have helped feed the hungry and helped bring more Americans into service," said Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a leader in President Obama's United We Serve initiative.
On the tournament side, all eight tournaments falling into the three-week Golf Fore Groceries window agreed to implement food drive programs benefiting their local communities. Hundreds of staff members and volunteers donated their time toward the effort, and the PGA TOUR Wives Association co-sponsored a program at the Deutsche Bank Championship. At the tournament, the TOUR Wives led a "Healthy Packs" initiative where they helped fill 1,000 reusable grocery bags with healthy snacks to be distributed to children in the Fall River, Mass., area.
TOUR player Brad Faxon and his wife, Dory, also appeared in local television and radio PSAs promoting the food drive in the Boston area.
"The TOUR Wives were very excited to join the cause," PGA TOUR Wives Association President Amy Wilson said. "Although we carry out many volunteer service projects a year, participating in Golf Fore Groceries and co-sponsoring the local 'Healthy Packs' initiative was a great way to demonstrate that by working together, we can make a significant impact in local communities."
Employees at PGA TOUR headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., also engaged in service activities this summer. More than 150 TOUR staff members volunteered approximately 520 hours of tutoring and mentoring to children and teens in the Metro Kids Konnection program at Cleveland Arms Apartments, an inner-city residence in Jacksonville, Fla. Each of the program's 130 kids also received a backpack filled with school supplies, donated by TOUR employees. The seven-week involvement with Metro Kids Konnection culminated in a fun-filled field day for the residents of the Cleveland Arms Apartments.
The TOUR's involvement in United We Serve is only a portion of the TOUR's overall charity platform, "Together, anything's possible," which was launched in May 2009. Through its tournaments, players and volunteers, the PGA TOUR has contributed more than $1.4 billion to charitable causes around the world. "Together, anything's possible" speaks to the TOUR's plans to expand the impact on local communities by leveraging its tournaments, sponsors, players, volunteers and fans.
Further information can be found on www.PGATOUR.COM/serve.
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