These Kids Can Play - BookFest!
THE PLAYERS Championship
By: Sara Moores

Another beautiful week in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL at THE PLAYERS Championship. But wait! At the Stadium Village we see...Cinderella? Belle? Tinkerbell?  And over there, at the 17th Island Green replica, pirates and princesses? Cat in the Hat? Jaxson DeVille? Laughing and giggling at the golf course! What's going on?

Look closely and you'll see kids in wheelchairs, on crutches and pulling oxygen tanks being transformed into princesses and pirates. And many are sitting in a big circle around celebrity readers as the PGA TOUR Wives Association and THE PLAYERS Championship hosted children from Community PedsCare, a pediatric palliative and hospice care program of Community Hospice. This program helps children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. This was the third year for this event where children of all ages gather at the Stadium Village at the beautiful TPC Sawgrass.

Added this year was BookFest, the first of three events falling under the Association’s Operation Literacy-Literacy Drives Dreams platform. Each child had the opportunity to choose a book in the “book nook” where Books-A-Go-Go, who donated the books, helped children get that special book. Students from the Ponte Vedra High School Drama Department came dressed as storybook characters, much to the children’s delight.

Other activities were also available including family pictures, generously donated by Kodak, snag golf, run by the First Tee of Jacksonville and reading in the reading corner. Readers, including former Jacksonville Jaguars Mark Brunell and Tony Boselli, tennis great Todd Martin, and PGA TOUR professionals, Justin Leonard, Henrik Stenson and Jim Furyk, brought Cat in the Hat and other books alive for the children who sat at their feet.

Partnering with us in support of this event was THE PLAYERS Championship proud partner, UBS. Since 2008, UBS has joined us to help raise over $150,000 for the Northeast Florida Community Hospice PedsCare. Their involvement in this program is a reflection of the UBS commitment to serving communities where UBS employees live and work. The PTWA is thankful for UBS’ partnership.

Tabitha Furyk, wife of PGA TOUR player Jim Furyk, organized the event that gave the children, along with their parents, siblings and caregivers, a morning of fun, golf and books. At the end of the day, children were tired, not as a result of medical treatments, but from sun, fun and laughter. Giving Through Golf comes in many forms...this is one of them.