Patrick Warburton’s Celebrity Golf Tournament receives high praise

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has honored the Coachella Valley-based board of directors of the Patrick Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament with the 2015 Volunteer Committee of the Year award.

The ceremony was held in Memphis, Tennessee.

Of the more than 100 dinner and golf events organized around the country each year to raise funds for St. Jude, it was the Patrick Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament Board that received the hospital’s highest recognition for a volunteer committee this year, according to a release from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The tournament, which also includes a Jam Session featuring rock and roll hall-of-famers, a Songwriter’s Night bringing in top Nashville songwriters, a Saturday Soiree and 5K, has been held in Palm Desert for the past 5 years and raised more than $1 million for the hospital this past March.

A majority of the local board members have supported the tournament since its inception and reside in the Coachella Valley. Board members include: Chairman Clarke Rheney, Tad Black, Andrea Carter, Andy Childs, Jeff Grady, Andy Kerr, KC Kinsey, Joseph Romano, Greg Rubino, Ralph Scatena, Danielle Scardino, John Scardino, Barb Smith, Kate Spates, and Cathy and Patrick Warburton.

“This award is such a great honor and a testament to all the countless hours everyone has put in over the last 5 years,” said Clarke Rheney, Tournament Chairman. “This Board is like a family. Our hearts are deeply committed to the kids of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and for all the work we do to make this event a successful fundraiser for the hospital – we know these families are doing so much more to work toward a full recovery.”

While St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is based in Memphis, its doctors and researchers treat children from all 50 states, including California, and around the world.

Hospital officials said the daily operating cost of St. Jude is $2 million, which is primarily covered by individual contributors. Thanks to generous donors, families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

Warburton’s decision to lead a fundraising effort for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital came in 2010, when he and his wife Cathy visited the hospital to take a tour and meet some of the patient families. Moved by the experience and the impressive strides that have been made on pediatric cancer survival rates by research at St. Jude, they announced their plans for this annual celebrity golf tournament in the desert – which they selected because of its notoriety for lots of sun and spectacular golf, officials said in the release.

News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 are proud sponsors of the tournament, which sells out every year.