Golfers and Horses for Charity: St. Augustine, FLorida

Golfers and Horses for Charity: St. Augustine, Florida

This was the title of a press release I received in an e-mail today.

Golfers and Horses ...Whodathunkit?

This was a great idea. Ric Lehman of Haven Horse Ranch could never have come up with a better idea. Haven Horse ranch is a therapeutic riding center that caters to children with needs. There is no way I could repeat what Ric has put together. I am going to paste quotes from the release I received today with prior permission.

Haven Horse Ranch, a local children's horse ranch and therapeutic riding center of 21 years, has joined forces with the The PLAYERS Championship, W.R.T.W., Inc, a licensed franchisee of Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q and PGA TOUR player and winner of the 1990 PLAYERS Championship Jodie Mudd to raise funds to help provide much needed Equine Assisted Therapy to local residents.  

On Tuesday, May 4, from 5:00 PM to close, four-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Jodie Mudd, will be at the Sonny's on State Road 16 and I-95 (near the Outlet Malls) and will be signing autographs. There will also be drawings for some great prizes and Sonny's will donate 10% of the night's proceeds to the Birdies for Charity campaign.  

Birdies for Charityis a pledge drive with some twists. The public is encouraged to make pledges based on the number of Birdies at this year's TPC Golf Tournament. Pledges can also be made in a flat dollar amount. In addition to making a pledge, they can guess how many birdies will be made during the tournament. Grand Prize is a trip for two to New York City including round trip airfare, 4 nights at the Sheraton Mahwah and VIP tickets to The Barclays, the first of four events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Second Prize is a John Deere riding mower and third prize is dinner for 4 at Traditions in the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass.   In addition to gathering pledges from patrons, friends and family, the staff at our local Sonny's Bar- B-Q franchisee on U.S. 1 and State Road 16 are encouraging guests to "add-a-buck" to their checks during the pledge drive.  

    "We are excited to be working with The PLAYERS Championship and Clay and Pam Murphy, owners of our local Sonny's franchise on this," said Ric Lehman, Executive Director for Haven Horse Ranch. "With 100% of the contributions going towards much needed therapy for our local residents, it's great to see the community get behind this program. The therapy benefits at-risk children as well as those with Autism, MS, MD, Cerebral Palsy and more", added Lehman.  

   According to the mom of one of our special needs students, "I'd like you to know what 10 minutes on Fancy [one of the horses] did for her Tuesday - she spent Sunday night at Wolfson's ER, hooked up to a heart monitor, getting chest X-rays, etc. She didn't get home until 3 am Monday. Although she slept in until 11, she was still exhausted and her senses, attitude, and stims were terrible. Anyway, after ten minutes on Fancy, she was totally different. She yelled, "Last one in is a rotten egg," as she ran back to the barn, laughing with another girl. She started talking more and participated in the rest of the meeting. Riding the horse was like pressing the "restart" button on a computer when it's bogged down with too much junk. Thank you for helping her to do that."     

   "This is what we are raising money for; horses helping children" said Clay Murphy, Owner of WRTW Inc.,licensed franchisee of Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q. "Helping our children is so important these days and these programs have proven they work, Pam and I felt we had to get involved and help out as much as we can."     Other local groups that are participating and encouraging contributions for Haven Horse Ranch include The Raintree Restaurant, The Hall of Fame Restaurant, Janet Tillman's State Farm, NAIFA of Jacksonville, NAIFA of Tallahassee, May Management and the Junior Service League.     

If you would like to make a pledge, come out to Sonny's on SR 16 Tuesday May 4^th for dinner or call (904) 813-5710 to pledge by phone or make your pledge on line at http://www.havenhorseranch.org/supportthekids/birdiesforcharity.html. For more information contact Ric Lehman, Haven Horse Ranch at (904) 813-5710.

This is a phenomenal way to help children in our area. Anyone living in this area please take the time to help.