When we last checked in, the Have a Ball Golf Tournament was making a trial run at expanding to two events each year locally in Danville. Now in its third year of expansion, the Have a Ball Golf Tournaments have established themselves as one of the largest privately held golf tournaments in the world.
Based in Danville, the Have a Ball Foundation has raised more than $1.5 million for cancer since 2005 through two “double shotgun” (that’s 300 people at each event x 2!) golf tournaments. This year alone, the Have a Ball Golf Tournaments are on pace to raise $290,000.00 through 610 participants, 56 corporate sponsors, 52 hole sponsors and over 200 corporations in all involved. The foundation hopes to break its own record (currently at 20) and send funds to 22 to 24 different cancer organizations this year.
Founded by two-time cancer survivor Bob Hammer and his wife Kim, the little engine that is the Have a Ball Foundation is making an impression globally in the cancer community. “When I started this nine years ago, I had a goal of sending $2,500.00 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation in an effort to say thank you, and here we are, nine years later, sending money to possibly 25 different organizations out of our garage in Danville. It’s just crazy!”
Bob Hammer endured 26 rounds of chemotherapy in 1999 and 2001 and was set to have a surgery that would have left him unable to have more children (he had a daughter) when he met a famous oncologist at an Armstrong event in 2001. He ended up taking the advice of the famous oncologist and did not have that surgery. A year later, he and his wife Kim had their son Josh (now 10) and since then they have helped thousands through their non-profit.
They have sent close to $400,000 to Livestrong “It’s still a great organization by the way,” Hammer adds. They have sent over 75 children with cancer to Camp Okizu in Novato. They also created, and have now awarded eight oncology nursing scholarships on top of sending money to so many other organizations.
For more information, visit www.haveaballgolf.com
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