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JUSTIN ROSE RAISES $200,000 FOR BLESSINGS In A Backpack
London, 14th October, 2011 - English golfer Justin Rose last week raised $200,000 for the American based charity ‘Blessings in a Backpack' through a golf event that he hosted at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando.
Having recently won his third PGA Tour event at the BMW Championships in Chicago, Justin turned his attentions on Monday to help raise money for a charity that has become close to his and wife Kate's hearts. They were joined at Lake Nona by fellow golf pro's Ian Poulter and Gary Woodland along with his golf coach Sean Foley and Sir Nick Faldo for a pro-am event to raise funds for the Blessings in a Backpack cause. The key driver for raising money saw Justin and his fellow pro's being auctioned into teams by Sir Nick Faldo at the start of the event. Along with additional challenges and activities throughout the day, Justin was delighted to reach the figure of $200,000 as the total amount raised. He commented: "The Blessings in a Backpack project is something that is very close to our hearts now and to raise this sum of money through an event means so much to us and to the charity." He added: "The number of children that will benefit from this event is just fantastic and we will continue to help raise funds and support the charity as and where we can throughout the year."
Along with wife Kate, Justin has become actively involved in Blessings in a Backpack whose main focus is to ensure that underprivileged school children are receiving nourishment at weekends. Through the support of its partners and fund raisers, the charity provides school children with a backpack filled with easy-to-prepare and ready-to-eat food. For just $80, they are able to provide one child with a backpack during every weekend of a 38 week school year. Having launched in 2005 with two pilot schools, the charity now serves 20,000+ elementary school children across 19 states in the US.
Earlier in the year, Justin launched another initiative to raise money for the charity that will see him donate $80 for every birdie he posts at all golf events worldwide during the entire 2011 season - an initiative that he is calling ‘Birdies for Blessings'.
And it's through Justin & Kate's passion for the programme that has led to Zurich Financial, another of Justin's main sponsors, extending their support to the initiative. Zurich are now committed to building upon the relationship Farmers Insurance (owned by Zurich) started with ‘Blessings in a Backpack' during the 2011 Farmers Insurance Open, where Farmers executives and PGA TOUR players led by the Roses helped stuff backpacks full of food for 500 children who attend the Doris Miller Elementary School in San Diego. And during the 2011 Zurich Classic in New Orleans, Zurich's CEO Martin Senn joined both Justin and Kate in a news conference to discuss and help raise awareness of the charity, following their generous offering to provide funding to feed 800 school children for the year in New Orleans. Zurich have also agreed to match Justin's Birdies for Blessings total at the end of the year which should raise a significant sum for the charity. To date Justin has posted 308 birdies, which already gives a total of $49,280.00 when matched by Zurich.
For the Roses, effective nourishment is something that they are both very passionate about, which is why they have chosen to support the ‘Blessings in a Backpack' programme. Not only are they keen to promote the importance of nutrition for children, but Justin is only too aware of the impact that effective nourishment can have on his own performance on the golf course. He commented: "I can't expect to play good golf if I'm not properly nourished so how can we expect kids to go a full weekend without enough to eat and then be able to focus on learning?"
Justin and Kate have now worked closely with the charity since 2009 where their fundraising efforts have helped feed over 1,000 school children in Orlando. They have both visited schools, attended sessions to fill back packs with food to then hand out to the children, and also held a golf day in 2010 that raised $180,000. The Roses have also personally provided two exciting trips away from school - once taking 80 children to the beach for the afternoon in Orlando, and on another occasion taking 15 children to the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf event at Bay Hill.
