The 7th annual Hayden Hurst Family Foundation Charity Golf Tournament was held on Monday, Feb. 23, at the Marsh Landing Country Club.
The Hayden Hurst Family Foundation raises money to assist youth and military members with their mental health.
In 2012, Hayden Hurst was drafted out of The Bolles School by the Pittsburgh Pirates. After a few years, Hurst decided to try his hand at football and walked on at the University of South Carolina in the summer of 2015.
After leaving high school, Hurst struggled with depression and in 2015 he attempted to take his own life. Hurst had already lost family members to suicide and after he tried and failed to take his life, he decided he wanted to make a difference in the mental health arena.
In 2018, Hurst was selected in the first-round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. After being drafted, he asked his parents to retire to help him run a foundation for suicide prevention.
Hurst’s foundation works with different organizations that help with mental health such as K9s for Veterans and the Youth Crisis Center (YCC).
The primary benefactor of the annual charity golf tournament is the YCC in Jacksonville. Last year, the Hurst Foundation was able to donate $90,000 to YCC.
YCC has several programs and outreaches to help youth and families who are struggling. One of these programs is the Maternity Independent Living and Life Skills (MILLS) Program. MILLS offers stable transitional housing for pregnant young women and mothers ages 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness. Hurst’s mother Cathy sits on the board at the YCC and has been instrumental in taking the MILLS program a step further. She, along with some of the foundation’s sponsors, started a decorating contest to see who could do the best job of decorating the young women’s homes. She said the work that the Hurst Foundation does is essential in today’s world.
“We are very dedicated to changing the stigma surrounding mental health,” she said.
The tournament annually recognizes a person lost to suicide; this year, it was Patrick Heinold, who was a 17-year-old junior at The Bolles School. Heinold was a victim of suicide in February 2017.
This year the team from Triton Roofing, which included Chris Malone, Mike Smith, Derrick Davis and Billy Grimsley, won first place in the tournament.
For more information on the Hayden Hurst Family Foundation including ways to donate, go to haydenhurstfoundation.com.
