The PGA Tour Wives Association and the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation hosted children and families from Community PedsCare and Wolfson Children’s Hospital at THE PLAYERS Championship on Tuesday, May 8, for a fun-filled event featuring various artistic activities and vendors.
Tabitha Furyk, the chairperson of the annual event, along with PGA Tour players and their spouses, interacted with children, posed for photos and enjoyed the morning’s festivities held at the Stadium Village. The Jacksonville Zoo, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, EverBank and others were on site.
Held during the practice round prior to the tournament, the event was intended to serve as a distraction for the kids, many of whom are dealing with life-limiting or life-threatening injuries and diseases. The morning concluded with THE PLAYERS Championship and event sponsor EverBank each presenting donations of $30,000 to Community PedsCare.
“It’s a wonderful event,” Furyk said in an interview with the Recorder. “We look forward to it every year.”
This year’s theme, “These Kids Can Paint,” allowed children to be creative and explore their artistic skill.
"We had them each show their creative side,” she said. “We had painting, some sand activities, some string activities … there's always something that will hit their ability level and their interest level. There's a lot of work that goes into it, but it really pays off to see how much fun they're having."
Run by Community Hospice & Palliative Care, Community PedsCare provides pediatric, palliative hospice services to children in the Northeast Florida area. Working in collaboration with Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Nemours Children’s Specialty Care and the University of Florida-Jacksonville, Community PedsCare provides kids and their families with support as the children progress through different levels of care settings, with services including counseling and spiritual support, music and pet therapy, parent support groups, respite care and more. For more information, visit https://www.communityhospice.com/services/community-pedscare/.