BELLEAIR, Florida – The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and BayCare Health System announced recently the launch of its “Birdies for Babies” charitable program surrounding the 2024 edition of the championship, taking place Nov. 14-17 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.
To give back to the local community, The ANNIKA has pledged to donate $50 for every birdie and $100 for every eagle scored during all four rounds of the championship (Nov. 14-17) with a minimum donation of $100,000 to the Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation.
All funds received from this partnership will be invested at BayCare’s Mease Countryside and Morton Plant hospitals to enhance the care of their most vulnerable, premature babies, specifically with access to the NICU2HOME app and a new neonatal transporter.
Spectators at The ANNIKA also will have the opportunity to donate to the Birdies for Babies program. At Pelican Golf Club’s signature par-3 12th hole Nov. 13-17, fans will be able to test their putting skills via the ‘BayCare Long Putt Challenge.’ For every 30-foot putt made during the week, $100 will be donated by the tournament to the Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation.
“It is important for The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican to partner and give back to the community in a variety of ways as the Tampa Bay community continues to rebuild, recover and heal from the recent hurricanes,” said Ryan Dever, tournament director for The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. “BayCare has been an important and integral part of our community, and we are honored to continue with our partnership with BayCare as our official health care system for a fifth consecutive year.”
“We are proud of the Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation’s partnership with the LPGA Tour and The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and are grateful for their continued support through the Birdies for Babies program,” said Ernestine Morgan, president and CEO of Philanthropy at Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation. “The support we received in our first four years has helped to keep families and infants safe and secure. The upcoming donations from all the birdies made during tournament week will be invested in supporting and enhancing care for premature infants and their parents.”
The Birdies for Babies charitable program launched with the inaugural Pelican Women’s Championship in 2020 and has donated more than $260,000 to families in need in the tournament’s first four years.
• 2020: 932 total birdies were recorded for a $46,600 donation.
• 2021: 1,369 birdies were recorded for a $68,450 donation
• 2022: 958 birdies were recorded (three-round tournament) for a $47,900 donation.
• 2023: 1,446 birdies and 19 eagles were recorded totaling $74,200; $21,305 donated from the ‘BayCare Long Putt Challenge’; $4,500 donated by the Doyle family to round up the total donation to $100,000.
A link to the Birdies for Babies charitable program and donation information can be found here:https://give.mpmfoundation.org/birdies-for-babies. Fans also have the opportunity to donate to the Birdies for Babies program directly via The ANNIKA website as well as during the check out process when purchasing tickets.
All donations from the 2024 Birdies for Babies program will go specifically toward supporting parents of premature infants in the NICU with access to the NICU2HOME app and the need for a neonatal transporter at Mease Countryside Hospital.
The NICU2HOME smartphone app is designed to help parents get oriented to their new reality, learn about their baby, track their NICU journey, receive educational information – including milestones – and receive real-time updates on their baby’s status from nurses and doctors caring for their child in the NICU.
Donations also will go towards supporting premature infants at Mease Countryside Hospital via a neonatal transporter with an integrated ventilator to transport critical newborns from the hospital’s emergency department and operating rooms to its Labor and Delivery and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
BayCare, a leading not-for-profit health care system, provides a wide range of services at 16 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations for patients and their families throughout Tampa Bay and the Central Florida regions. As a founding partner of The ANNIKA, BayCare is supporting the tournament’s volunteer program that recruits and deploys hundreds of individuals to assist in managing the event.
For more information on The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, visit www.TheAnnika.com.