FOR RELEASE: December 16, 2022
CONTACTS: Adam Renfroe, Tournament Director, [email protected]
Chris Reimer, President, CR PR Group, [email protected]
2022 Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K
generates more than $1.34 million for community and charity partners
JACKSONVILLE, FL – Sparked by a $500,000 direct donation from Constellation, the tournament title sponsor, the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K generated more than $1.34 million for North Florida charities. Constellation’s funding supports several deserving North Florida charities including the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, First Tee – North Florida, Blessings in a Backpack, St. Johns Riverkeeper and Beaches Habitat for Humanity. The tournament also benefits a number of other local organizations during the year including Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Operation Shower, Jacksonville Humane Society, Hope for the Holidays, City Year, K9s for Warriors, Guardian ad Litem Foundation, Guardian Catholic School and many more.
“We are so thankful for the support from Constellation, Circle K, all of our sponsors, partners, volunteers and the fans here in Jacksonville for helping our tournament grow its charitable number in 2022,” said tournament co-host and 17-time PGA TOUR winner Jim Furyk. “While the amount is fantastic, it’s the stories of those impacted that drive home how important these incredible organizations are to our community.”
“This significant philanthropic impact is an example of what happens when two organizations join forces with a shared and genuine commitment to preserving the environment and improving the lives of individuals and families in the community,” said Jim McHugh, chief commercial officer, Constellation. “We are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with the Furyks and continue our charitable commitments in 2023.”
A few of these programs include:
St. Johns Riverkeeper – With the tremendous support from Constellation, St. Johns Riverkeeper is a charity partner that helps keep sustainability at the forefront of the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K. St. Johns Riverkeeper raises awareness, educates youth and engages the community to serve our waterways.
Through funding from the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K, St. Johns Riverkeeper will provide 16 field trips for local Title 1 schools, enabling them to enjoy the St. Johns River and learn about ways to keep our waterways clean and safe.
Hope for the Holidays – Hope for the Holidays was created by the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation in 2011 as an opportunity for families to pack bags of shelf-stable holiday meals for families and kids that have been identified as food insecure in Duval and St. Johns counties The foundation provides the funding and products for the holiday meals while hosting this hands-on volunteer opportunity. Hope for the Holidays has increased the number of bags delivered to families in need from 500 in 2011 to over 5,000 this year.
In 2022, Hope for the Holidays distributed over 5,000 bags and over 90,000 pieces of food through the following organizations:
Blessings in a Backpack – for more than 10 years, the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation has worked closely with Blessings in a Backpack to provide meals to students. The Foundation has adopted three schools in Duval County and provides funding for 1,050 students to receive meals each weekend throughout the school year, including the recent addition of Venetia Elementary near Timuquana Country Club to help support families at NAS Jacksonville. Over 30,000 weekend meals are currently provided throughout the school year.
Family Links – Family Links is a child- and family-centered support program at Wolfson Children’s Hospital made possible by the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation, addressing health-related social conditions that impact the quality of children’s wellness. For this reason, Family Links aims to assist families by identifying the social needs impacting their health, expanding access to community resources, and empowering family decision-making that leads to better health outcomes for children.
One Family Links Resource Navigator assisted a family with Medicaid when they had their newborn. After a few months, the mother and baby moved into a Women’s Shelter and reached back out to obtain new Medicaid cards, in addition to needing help accessing food and health services. The Resource Navigator assisted the mother with receiving SNAP benefits. The mother was also connected to a new pediatrician and the Healthy Start Coalition for additional maternal and newborn services.
Another Family Links Resource Navigator has been providing ongoing assistance for a single, pregnant mother and her two children. The family immigrated to the U.S. last year and the Resource Navigator helped them obtain Medicaid coverage and SNAP, as well as connected them with food bags from The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation, new clothes for the children, bus passes for transportation to doctors’ appointments, and provided the family with additional resources for safe and reliable housing.
Tournament events with a focus on community impact included:
Champions Breakfast – The Champions Breakfast took place before the opening round of the event and featured 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara Nicklaus, and NFL greats Tony Boselli and Ben Roethlisberger. The breakfast was held in connection with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus’ Play Yellow campaign, which extends to the greater Jacksonville area through the event’s support of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, the charity of the day for the tournament’s opening round.
In support of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, 14-year-old patient Jack Jones joined Jack Nicklaus on the first tee following the Champions Breakfast to hit a ceremonial opening tee shot. In early 2021, Jones was playing soccer, the sport he loves, when he collided with another player and suffered a suspected concussion. An MRI revealed a large congenital arachnoid cyst in his brain. He underwent brain surgery at Wolfson Children’s Hospital just days later. Jones is now fully healed and back on the soccer field and is a natural leader.
Celebrity Challenge for Charity – The Celebrity Challenge for Charity teed off during the opening round. After the final PGA TOUR Champions group cleared the 10th hole, Jaguars greats Tony Boselli and Josh Scobee took on Steelers legends Ben Roethlisberger and Jerome Bettis on the back nine at Timuquana Country Club. A total of $100,000 in charitable donations were awarded. Roethlisberger and Bettis won $36,000 for Habitat for Humanity, while Boselli made a long birdie putt on the 18th hole to help he and Scobee win $24,000 for Blessings in a Backpack. Each competitor was awarded an additional $10,000 for the charity of their choice.
Military Appreciation – The team at Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K, tournament sponsors, event volunteers and the PGA TOUR Champions players all have a profound respect for the men and women of the military and their families. Throughout the week, the event hosted a number of different events and initiatives to show appreciation and respect for those who serve, including:
For more information about Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K charitable efforts, please visit https://constellationfurykandfriends.com/projects.
ABOUT CONSTELLATION FURYK & FRIENDS PRESENTED BY CIRCLE K
The event featured a 78-player field and a $2 million purse. In 2022, the tournament generated more than $1.34 million for local charities bringing the two-year total to more than $2.51 million with plans to grow that number in the future. All three rounds of the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K are broadcast live on Golf Channel, the exclusive cable provider of PGA TOUR Champions. More information on the event can be found online at www.ConstellationFurykAndFriends.com.
ABOUT THE JIM & TABITHA FURYK FOUNDATION
The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation was created in 2010 to help children and families in need. This Jacksonville based non-profit partners with charities across North Florida to provide project specific funding and essential programing. The annual Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K, created to raise charity dollars to support these partnerships, brings the community together to increase awareness and funding for programs that support education, healthcare, nutrition and safety for at risk children and families. Programs created from the support of the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation in the Jacksonville Community include: Hope for the Holidays which packs over 5,000 bags filled with a holiday meal for at risk families, Operation Shower which provides car seats, strollers and baby essentials to active military families, Blessings in a Backpack, which feeds thousands of food insecure children each week of the school year, and Childcare specialists and services to provide medically complex children care through Wolfson’s and Community PedsCare. The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation is dedicated to bringing our community together to improve the lives of the children and families who live on the First Coast through each of these programs and many more.
ABOUT CONSTELLATION
Headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: CEG) is the nation’s largest producer of clean, carbon-free energy and a leading supplier of energy products and services to businesses, homes, community aggregations and public sector customers across the continental United States, including three fourths of Fortune 100 companies. With annual output that is nearly 90 percent carbon-free, our hydro, wind and solar facilities paired with the nation’s largest nuclear fleet have the generating capacity to power the equivalent of 15 million homes, providing 10 percent of the nation’s clean energy. We are further accelerating the nation’s transition to a carbon-free future by helping our customers reach their sustainability goals, setting our own ambitious goal of achieving 100 percent carbon-free generation by 2040, and by investing in promising emerging technologies to eliminate carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy. Follow Constellation on LinkedIn and Twitter.