Dear Friends,

Magic, it really felt like magic! There was a positive vibe early in the morning on June 13, 2011, and it resulted in another phenomenal day at the Northern California Golf 4 Charity event! The weather was beautiful, with a field of 230 golfers, many sponsors and volunteers throughout the golf course and a lot of fun! Thank you for your generous support, contributions and participation in this year's 17^th annual event, hosted by Sodexo and Marriott.

Although we are finalizing our results, we are projecting a contribution of $80,000.00.  THANK YOU! This is another huge accomplishment for all of us.

The Sodexo Foundation’s Feeding Our Future/Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, the Children’s Miracle Network at both the Children’s Hospital Oakland and the UC Davis Children’s Hospital are deeply grateful for the donations they receive each year from this event. Since its inception in 1995, this tournament has raised in excess of $1.33M for our charities.

Our inaugural Can Food Drive to support the Second Harvest Food Bank was a huge success. All of our golfers and volunteers did a tremendous job of lending their support and were able to collect 560 cans and $240. We also received a corporate donation of 178 cases of product from Campbell’s Soup that will benefit Second Harvest as well! This is really awesome and much appreciated!

Raymond Parra, a former UC Davis Children’s Hospital patient, joined our activities this year. Today, Raymond is a cancer survivor who received treatment at the UC Davis Children’s Hospital, and has been cancer free for over a year! "The funds that you have raised saved my life - and will save another child's life through state-of-the-art medical care, life saving research and preventative education for children 24 hours a day, 365 days a week that may not otherwise be available”, Parra shared during our opening program. Children's Miracle Network hospitals provide care regardless of the family's ability to pay.

Barbara Jwanouskos from Second Harvest shared the following with story with us. “When one of my colleagues asked her neighbor, a teacher, her experiences with childhood hunger, she told us how in class she presented the students with a word problem, ‘What is your favorite food to eat for dinner?’ One little boy struggled with this question.  He asked her, ‘Is dinner the meal that most families eat when the sun goes down? We don’t eat that meal.’ We think it is unacceptable for any kid to have to go hungry, given the affluence and innovation in our region. Thanks to the support of this Tournament, however, we can make sure that every child grows up healthy and happy with access to adequate nutrition. The proceeds from this year’s event will provide for over 52,000 meals for our children in the area.

It requires a lot of coordination and support like yours to make this event such a great success.  It took the efforts of all of our sponsors, contributors, golfers and volunteers to make this such a spectacular event. Although we all had fun throughout this event, it really all comes down to the financial contributions that we are able to make that ensure the viability of these important charities in Northern California.

On behalf of our committee, Sodexo and Marriott, thank you very much for your support, and for helping us to create this magic!  We look forward to your continued participation next year. 

Mark your calendars for next year’s tournament: June 4, 2012.

Thank you!

Tournament Committee             

Please visit our page on Facebook and Like us!