The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation partnered with the community last week to pack 4,100 bags of food for underprivileged kids and families in the greater Jacksonville area at the organization’s seventh annual “Hope for the Holidays” event.
Held on Dec. 12 in the parking lots adjacent to the TPC Clubhouse, the event resulted in 30,000 pounds of food being donated to kids in need, with 32 schools in Duval and St. Johns counties receiving holiday bags of items including ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, chicken broth, hot cocoa and more. The Ponte Vedra-based foundation packed bags for 3,705 students in the local Blessings in Backpack program, a nonprofit organization that provides consistent weekend nutrition for children on the federal free and reduced meal program.
“There’s a lot of need,” PGA Tour player and Ponte Vedra Beach resident Jim Furyk said. “There are a lot of kids who are food insecure in Jacksonville. Forty-one hundred bags are scratching the surface.”
The foundation also donated food to children and families at the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, Daniel Kids, the Hubbard House, Community Hospice & Palliative Care’s Community PedsCare program and the Sulzbacher Center.
The event’s outcome continues to grow every year. In 2017, the foundation packed over 3,500 bags. In 2016, it was 3,000. When the foundation first held the event in 2011, the organization packed 500 bags. Because the number of bags has increased so dramatically, Tabitha Furyk said they didn’t have much of a choice but to hold the event in the TPC parking lots. Not many other locations would have been able to fit all the food and volunteers, she said.
“What we’re hoping that people realize is when they come and they realize our numbers are growing, they realize that the need is out there,” Tabitha explained. “We’re still not even making a dent in the number of families and children who need this food. So, hopefully when they come out and have this hands-on opportunity to give back, they realize hey this is something we need to take care of in Jacksonville.”
The event is a true community collaboration, as the foundation enlisted the support of CAA Sports, JAX Refrigeration, the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, Power Tee, TMM and TopGolf to set up the food at the event. The foundation also works with Feeding Northeast Florida, PepsiCo, Publix, Quaker and Target to fill the bags with food. Funds for the food and the event were raised during the annual Furyk & Friends Concert and Celebrity Golf Classic, as well as from online donations and in-kind donations from CSC Security, Republic Services, Ring Power, TPC Sawgrass and the chefs at NINETEEN, who provided hot cocoa.
In addition, dozens and dozens of members of the community attended to help pack the bags, and the Nease and Ponte Vedra lacrosse teams carried and loaded cars and trucks with bags.
Attending the event for the first time, Nease lacrosse coach Max Gurowski said it was definitely an impactful experience for his boys.
“We talk all the time about how fortunate we are and it’s bigger than lacrosse,” Gurowski said. “To see them take that to heart is really all that you want as a coach. It’s not about wins and losses. It’s about creating great, young men, and these guys are well on their way to becoming that by continuing to serve people less fortunate and helping others.”
Lisa Kessler has volunteered at “Hope for the Holidays” for many years. She noted that she was part of the Blessings in a Backpack effort when it started in St. Johns County, so she’s been impressed by the growth of the foundation’s annual event. Overall, she said she’s thankful to have the Furyks in the community.
“We are so blessed to have them,” Kessler said. “I don’t even know many of the things that they do, but I know that this event is so impactful for our community. And I’m really grateful that we have them around.”
For the Furyks, the feeling is mutual about the community’s support.
“When all these families come out here,” Tabitha said, “all of their kids, some people bring grandkids, and they look forward to doing it every year, it just completely warms your heart.”
