Golfers challenged for kidney foundation
by Sharron Walls
It’s a tournament with a twist. Instead of players hoping to win big bucks, golfers are raising money – ideally, around $1,250 each – to play in the second annual CKD Golf Challenge, Augusta.
Proceeds will benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Georgia.
A CKD Challenge is set up differently than other charity golf outings. Rather than pay a set registration fee, duffers play free and accept the “challenge” to raise at least $1,250 from friends, family and business associates. Funds support a growing local population of patients with chronic kidney disease, including dialysis and transplant patients.
In 2005, 36 golfers raised $37,000.
Stan Horne was one of them. He had a special reason to chip in – 16 years ago, he received a life-saving mulligan in the form of a kidney transplant at MCG. The sixth-grade math teacher at Tutt Middle School will be on the course again this year. “When I was asked to participate, I was very excited,” he said. “I knew the money was going to a great cause. I’m very pleased to be part of it.”
At least 10 foursomes have signed up so far to play in this year’s tournament Oct. 26 at Jones Creek Golf Club. The planning committee hopes to have 60 players on the course for the noon shotgun start. The only requirement to play is to take part in fundraising.
Every player is a guaranteed winner. “Nobody goes away empty-handed,” said Dr. David Pollock, an MCG renal physiologist who chairs this year’s event. Prizes will be awarded for mini-competitions, such as closest-to-the-hole, longest-drive and a hole-in-one contest sponsored by Jim Hudson Lexus. Local and regional sponsors will provide giveaways for contestants, including rounds at Mount Vintage Plantation and Champions Retreat Country Club, gift certificates to Tuscany Spas, Chateau Elan and Jones Creek, an all-day golf school at Reynolds Plantation, a three-day golf school at Pawleys Island, S.C., and a three-day stay at the Grove Park Golf and Spa Resort in Asheville, N.C. The prize ceremony begins at 5 p.m.
Dr. Pollock hopes the tournament eventually becomes large enough to send a local winning team to Pebble Beach, where the national tournament is held each year. “It’s a goal. It will take some time and we’re going to have to get much larger corporate sponsorships. Tournaments can only be so big or you run out of room on the golf course, so the amount of money raised is important. If our fundraising becomes large enough, we can compete nationally.”
Among the projects that benefit from the Augusta challenge is Camp Independence, a weeklong summer camp for Georgia children with kidney disease or an organ transplant, and the Kidney Early Evaluation Project, which identifies individuals at increased risk for kidney failure and refers them for medical services. Funds are also directed to the Chuck Brown Crisis Intervention Fund, an emergency assistance program for dialysis patients; Team Georgia, an Olympics-style competition for transplant recipients; and clinical and basic research grants.
“There are a lot of people from MCG involved with this,” said Dr. Pollock. “We’re all volunteering our time and effort to help the Kidney Foundation.”
Mr. Horne has high praise for MCG employees. “If it were not for them,” he says, “this tournament would never have gotten off the ground.”
However, Dr. Pollock is quick to point out that the CKD Challenge is not an MCG-only event. “I do research related to kidney disease; that’s how I got involved, but it’s open to anyone. We’d love to have more students, more participation from the community at large. We won’t turn anybody down. You can walk up that morning with your clubs and play.”
Just be sure to do your fundraising first.
Want to play? Want to donate?Contact Dr. Pollock at dpollock@mcg.edu or ext. 1-8517
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