Birdies for St. Jude will give fans a unique interactive opportunity to engage with PGA TOUR athletes when the world’s best golfers descend on Memphis, July 30 – August 2, for the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
With this virtual front row to the tournament action, participants from around the world can team up with their favorite participating golfer to make a one-time donation or commit to a pledge for each birdie carded by that player during the tournament, all benefiting the kids at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the sole charitable beneficiary of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, announced Birdies for St. Jude as a fun and exciting opportunity to bring the action directly to fans across the globe. Participating PGA TOUR pros will be featured on a leaderboard throughout the tournament, while fans virtually engage in the real-time excitement to support the kids at St. Jude.
“We are so thankful for the decades of support from the PGA TOUR, our partners at FedEx and golf fans around the world who support our life-saving mission,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “The golf community stands with us all year long supporting our life-saving work. This year, we’re asking fans to participate virtually, by engaging in the Birdies for St. Jude campaign, as an important way to help raise funds and awareness so the world can witness how kindness and compassion from our partners, the athletes and fans creates such a meaningful and lasting impact on the kids at St. Jude.”
Patient art is an important feature of the tournament as it displays not only the talent of St. Jude kids, but also that art is a key component of the treatment and care at St. Jude. In 2019, patient art was featured on caddie bibs and FedEx collaborated with FootJoy and St. Jude to create and deliver a special pair of shoes for Justin Thomas, including a design by patient Bailey. For 2020, art will play an even bigger role. Several patients’ works of art will be prominent on caddie bibs and others featured by athletes and then as charity auction items through Birdies for St. Jude during the tournament. Thanks to generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
Many St. Jude patients, including those who have provided their artwork this year, are at the heart of what makes the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational so special. Their strength and inspirational stories always make an impact on PGA TOUR pros and fans alike. For example, resident competitive golfers, Dakota, 14, and Ally, 17, hope to become professional golfers one day. Earlier this year, Dakota carded his first career hole-in-one while still in treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). He recently completed treatment and returns for ongoing checkups. Ally, a strong competitor and inspiration on her high school golf team, is now out of treatment after a diagnosis of medulloblastoma, a rare brain tumor.
St. Jude patient Caleb, 11, is a fan of professional wrestling and is currently in treatment for ALL. Nate, 10, is now out of treatment for medulloblastoma and spends his time focusing on his favorite sports, golf, video games and basketball. Feature stories on St. Jude patients and their participation in the tournament are available on St. Jude Inspire.
Donor support during the World Golf Championships-St. Jude Invitational helps St. Jude continue its lifesaving mission: Finding cures. Saving children.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened more than 50 years ago. The global awareness opportunity during the WGC-FESJI is important because St. Jude freely shares its groundbreaking discoveries, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists can use that knowledge to save thousands more children around the world. St. Jude will not stop until no child dies from cancer.
Find out more about the campaign here.
