Thank you letter from the first Players Charity Championship with "Wish Stories":

Dear PCC Contributor,

On behalf of Video Golfers for Underdogs and The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois®, we would like to personally thank you for sponsoring the Players Charity Championship (PCC) held at Splinters Sports Club in Palatine, Illinois on June 5th and 6th. It was quite a sight to see 120 men and women from all over the U.S. and Canada come together in an effort to raise money for our designated charity, The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Your credit card pledges, flat donations, and contributions to the PCC Silent Auction resulted in a grand total of more than $40,000 raised to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! A check was presented to Make-A-Wish on June 6th for a grand total of $40,892.00! We will forever remember that moment.

Our community of Golden Tee Golf players decided to form a charity organization earlier this year. We named the organization “Video Golfers for Underdogs” and elected an executive panel to oversee the finances. We then voted as a group on a beneficiary for our first charitable function, the Players Charity Championship Golf Tournament, held on June 5th and 6th. We decided to grant all proceeds from this event to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization dedicated to granting wishes to children with life threatening diseases.

When we began to plan this event, our goal was to raise $10,000 and sponsor two Make-A-Wish children. We underestimated the support of our friends, family, and co-workers. Your generosity is responsible for us granting EIGHT life changing wishes to Make-A-Wish children.

Allow us to take a moment to touch on the 8 lives you impacted.

Our first wish child, Hollis, was diagnosed with Accute Lypmphblastic Leukemia (ALL) just over a year ago. Since being diagnosed with the disease, Hollis has spent several days each month undergoing treatment, and will continue to do so for the next 18-24 months. Hollis especially enjoys animals, and her wish is to travel to Hawaii with her parents and to swim with dolphins in the ocean. That trip has now been scheduled and Hollis will soon depart for Hawaii, where she will stay at a resort hotel, enjoy a helicopter ride, go horseback riding, play on the beach, and finally, spend a day swimming with dolphins.

Joseph’s wish was the second wish granted thanks to your financial support. Joseph is a 4-year old sports fan who, like Hollis, has been diagnosed with ALL. When he is not playing or watching sports, Joseph loves to visit the playground with his brother, Sam, and spend hours on the slides and swing sets. After the stress of numerous medical treatments and trips to the hospital, there is nothing Joseph would like better than to just relax and have some fun. Thanks to your support, he will soon become the proud owner of his very own playground set. Now Joseph will be able to enjoy his favorite recreational activity, every day of the year, by simply walking into his backyard.

Once we realized just how many of you were pledging support to Video Golfers for Underdogs, we knew we would raise enough money to sponsor a third wish. That wish went to Samson. Samson is a 16-year old high school freshman who loves to play and watch basketball. A year ago, Samson was diagnosed with non-Hodkins Lymphoma. Beating this type of cancer requires aggressive therapy and has Samson at the clinic every week for chemotherapy. Samson has remained upbeat and has shown amazing courage as he keeps his spirits and those of his family high and positive throughout his treatments.

Samson thought long and hard about his wish before he decided to wish for a South African Safari trip. That trip is now being scheduled. Samson is looking forward to seeing the animals in their own habitat and exploring a new culture. Samson’s wish wouldn’t have been possible without your generosity and support.

Having raised enough money to sponsor three wishes was very exciting. But the 120 participants who played in the Players Charity Championship continued to solicit sponsors and make pledges in the days leading up to the tournament. Soon we realized we had enough support for fourth wish! That fourth wish went to Trevor! Trevor, like most 4 year olds, is a cheerful, bubbly handful for his parents, Holly and Brian. He loves airplanes and won’t go anywhere without his favorite stuffed animal, Pooh Bear.

Two years ago, at age 2, Trevor was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma. Since then, Trevor has been a trooper while undergoing multiple therapies for his illness. Throughout his treatment, Trevor’s spirits have remained high and he continues to live life as a normal young boy. Trevor was thrilled when he found out he would be taking a break from some of the medical treatments in order to make his wish come true! Trevor and his parents recently traveled to Orlando, Florida for a week of fun at Walt Disney World. It was the family’s first vacation since Trevor’s diagnosis, and Trevor had a blast! From chatting with the pilots on the airplane ride to meeting his favorite character, Pooh Bear, the trip was non-stop fun and relaxation. This trip to Disney World provided Trevor and his family with a week of fun in the sun and many, many memories they will always cherish.

Trevor with Winnie the Pooh at Disney

It didn’t stop there. With your incredible support, the dollars continued to accumulate. A few days before the tournament was set to begin, it became clear that we had a good chance to raise $40,000 for The Make-A-Wish Foundation! We scheduled a meeting with our contacts at Make-A-Wish and they told us we had the funds to sponsor four more wishes!

It was then that Make-A-Wish asked us if we would like to sponsor one “special” wish. It seems that some children are not as “popular” as other children when it comes to wish sponsorship. These children often have diseases, such as AIDS or others, that make it more difficult to attract sponsors or for parents to agree to release their stories.

The idea that there are children still waiting for their wishes to come true simply due to the nature of their diseases made quite an impact on us. We decided to use all four remaining wishes to sponsor these children. Because of that, we don’t have a story to tell for those four wishes. But we do know that our decision and your support is responsible for granting four wishes to children who otherwise might not have been able to experience their hopes and dreams. That’s enough for us. We hope you support our decision, because without your help, there would have been no decision to make.

It’s a long “Thank You” letter. We know that. But it is important to us that you know the impact that your efforts made on the lives of these children. We all need inspiration. It is inspiration that provides these children, and all of us, the motivation to continue the struggle through life. Your support allowed us to impact the lives of eight children who could use a little inspiration. For that, we say “Thank You”.

And we’re not done.

Sincerely,