PGA TOUR event honored for “Best Charity Integration” in 2018
The Sanderson Farms Championship (Jackson, Mississippi) was honored by the PGA TOUR at the TOUR’s Tournament Meetings on December 6.
The Sanderson Farms Championship earned an award for “Best Charity Integration” during the 2018 tournament at The Country Club of Jackson.
“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I am pleased to congratulate the Sanderson Farms Championship for this special recognition,” said PGA TOUR Chief Tournaments and Competitions Officer Andy Pazder. “The tournament committee should be extremely proud of its hard work and innovation in making the tournament the best among its peers on TOUR.”
The “Best Charity Integration” Award recognizes the tournament that incorporates the tournament’s charity and theme into all facets of the event. Through onsite activation, year-round community initiatives and title sponsor engagement, the Sanderson Farms Championship is united around its charitable impact to Friends of Children’s Hospital, a non-profit benefiting the only children’s hospital in Mississippi, Batson Children’s Hospital.
The Sanderson Farms Championship won the award for Best Charity Integration among all PGA TOUR tournaments last night at the PGA TOUR’s annual Tournament Awards Dinner. The other finalists were the Honda Classic and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The award is given to the tournament that best incorporates their charitable goals into the tournament.
“We are very excited and proud to be the recipient of this award,” said Sanderson Farms Championship Executive Director Steve Jent. “Our staff and constituents have worked very hard these last five years to ensure the patients at Batson Children’s Hospital are woven into the fabric of our event. To be recognized as being the Best Charity Integration on the PGA TOUR is very gratifying for Sanderson Farms and Century Club Charities.”
“Without question, this is the best award we could have received. To be mentioned with the Pebble Beach tournament, which raised $13 million, and the Honda Classic whose primary charity is the Jack Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is quite an honor in itself, said Jeff Hubbard, Century Club Charities President. To win is simply fantastic, and a real credit to Steve Jent and his staff, as well as the Century Club and all of our volunteers. I could not be more proud of our tournament.”
Batson Children’s Hospital is highly visible onsite during tournament week with patients, doctors and nurses greeting spectators at the main entrance. Branded elements such as tickets, signage, tee markers and client badges also help deliver the charitable message. Additionally, the televised message in the tournament broadcast typically reserved for the title sponsor CEO is instead presented by a hospital executive.
At the 2018 event, PGA TOUR players made time to visit and interact with sick children at the hospital while highlighting the tournament’s charitable endeavors. Keynote speakers Erin and Ben Napier from HGTV’s “Home Town” also presented awareness of the charitable initiative during Tuesday’s Women’s Day Luncheon, while members of the PGA TOUR Wives Association hosted a party for patients at The Country Club of Jackson.
In 2017, more than $300,000 was donated to local charities across the state, in addition to a record breaking $1.2 million donation to Friends of Children’s Hospital. Tournament proceeds will fund construction of a seven-story, 340,000-square-foot pediatric tower that will be home to 88 private neonatal intensive care rooms, 10 additional operating rooms, more pediatric intensive care space, a pediatric imaging center, an outpatient clinic and a new lobby. Sanderson Farms Inc. CEO Joe Sanderson, and his wife Kathy, are chairs of the $100 million fundraising campaign and personally pledged $10 million over the next five years.
The award represents the third time the tournament has been recognized at the PGA TOUR Tournament Meetings, but the first since 2010 when it received “Best Special Event.”
About PGA Tour
By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires and positively impacts our fans, partners and communities worldwide.
The PGA TOUR co-sanctions more than 130 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Series- China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 25 countries (88 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to more than 1 billion households in 226 countries and territories in 23 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving. In 2017, tournaments across all Tours generated a record of more than $180 million for local and national charitable organizations, bringing the all-time total to $2.65 billion.
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About the Sanderson Farms Championship
The Sanderson Farms Championship is an annual stop on the PGA TOUR hosted by Century Club Charities, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to promote the game of golf for the benefit of charity. The tournament’s primary beneficiary is Friends of Children’s Hospital. The tournament has been part of the PGA TOUR schedule since 1968 and is now in its eighth year as a part of the FedExCup. Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM), the nation’s third largest poultry producer based in Laurel, Miss., is the title sponsor.
About Century Club Charities
Century Club Charities is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501(c) 3 organization whose mission is to promote the game of golf for the benefit of Mississippi charities. Since 1994, Century Club Charities has served as the host organization for Mississippi’s PGA TOUR event, helping to raise over $13.5 million for statewide charities.
About Sanderson Farms
Sanderson Farms, Inc., founded in 1947, is engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh and frozen chicken and other prepared food items. Employing more than 15,000 employees in operations spanning five states and 17 different cities, Sanderson Farms is the third largest poultry producer in the United States. As a company, Sanderson Farms is committed to adopting a fresh approach in everything they do, not only where products are concerned, but company-wide as well. Though the company has grown in size, it still adheres to the same hometown values of honesty, integrity, and innovation that was established when the Sanderson family founded the company.
