By Tom Oxholm, CFO, Wake Stone Corporation – Immediate Past Chairman, WakeMed Foundation & WakeMed Health & Hospitals Board Member
From golf tournaments, to dinners to black tie balls, I have been to many fundraisers in my time. That’s why I have a lot of respect for those people who go the extra mile to make their event special and different – like John McConnell and his staff at McConnell Golf LLC. [On June 7, the McConnell Golf Challenge for WakeMed Children's Hospital will be held at Raleigh Country Club.]
Yes, it’s a charity golf tournament, but it’s really unconventional. John, Jack Radford and I asked several local business leaders (some of the really competitive ones) to form teams. They recruit top area golfers to join their 16-member, match-play teams. Each team is playing under the banner of area universities: Appalachian State, Duke, ECU, NC State, UNC, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.
Each team will form eight better-ball teams and they will post a net better ball of partners score. The lowest combined eight-score total will be the winner.
The winners get a day of golf at the Old North State Club, the crown jewel of the McConnell golf courses. But the tournament is about more than that. Proceeds from the tournament will go to the WakeMed Foundation Just For Kids Kampaign to expand WakeMed Children’s and put the finishing touches on the new WakeMed Children’s Hospital. That’s really the best prize of the day.
Thanks to McConnell Golf for hosting this unique event and to all the team captains and players for their support of WakeMed Children’s Services.
