Bill Hayes - Man with a Mission.
Golf Coast Magazine
June 1995
The big, good looking man is Bill Hayes, the guy most responsible for developing and growing a very successful Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation here in Clearwater. The foundation is presently serving over 450 at risk kids (each year) between the ages of 5 and 17.
Bill let us know that Paul Azinger will join Chi Chi Rodriguez and 300 golfers for a two day, fun-filled event. The tournament is co-sponsored by Toyota and TA&T Internet Services. The Sunday night program will be held under a massive tent at the Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club and this year the festivities will take on an international flare. Participants will enjoy dinner from Carrabba's Italian Grill and be entertained by the Dunedin Bagpipe Band. The evening program will once again include the Sonic Courier live and silent auction. Hundreds of items, travel giveaways, merchandise, collector items and autographed sports memorabilia will be sold to the highest bidders.
Monday, November 10, participants will rise for breakfast and registration, then on to the Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club and the Cypress Run Golf Club for an 8:30am shotgun. Added incentive to make a hole in one will be provided by the sponsor Gulfwind Marine. They will award a Sea Ray F-16 jet boat to any lucky golfer able to ace the hole. (Chi Chi Rodriguez has made 34 holes in one.)
Bill made a point of telling us that The Foundation has kicked off their Chi Chi's Legacy Endowment Campaign to permanently endow the existing educational programs. To this end they are expecting to raise $10,000,000.
The Foundation's Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Preston J. Kool as the leader of the campaign. Although Preston and his wife Marge reside in Battle Creek, Michigan, their interest in serving the needs of children extends across the country. Preston is the retired President and CEO of several automobile dealerships. He is currently President of Battle Creek Golf Charities which has raised over $340,000 for various charities
According to Chi Chi, "Preston and his wife Marge are magnificent people. I am a lucky man to have them as leaders in my campaign for kids. They are committed champions to the Kids."
Evidence that the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation is committed to changing lives through its' programs can be found in the improvement of grades and test scores of Chi Chi's kids. According to the Pinellas County School study done in 1994, there is an average of about a 25% improvement in the grade point averages of the students from the Foundation's Modesta Robbins Partnership School. This full-time privately-supported, public school on the golf course is just one of four programs offered at the Foundation.
The first gifts to the Foundation's Endowment Campaign include stock transfers from the families of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Isel of Clearwater and Mr. and Mrs. Gale Lemerand of Daytona Beach. Both the Isel and Lemerand families have been dedicated supporters of the Foundation. Each family has been personally involved with the children. According to Mrs. Marcy Isel "It's the enthusiasm and self worth that I see in these kids that warms my heart. When I watch them grow as people that's what really counts with us." It takes so many caring adults to achieve change in the children, but I see the staff at Chi Chi's work so hard to give these Kids an opportunity. As Chi Chi says "we are raising the next generation of presidents, golfers, business owners and taxpayers."
If you are interested in touring the learning campus at 3030 McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, please contact Cary Stiff, Director of Development, at (813) 726-8829.
Mr. Hayes ended the interview by suggesting that Chi Chi's life and the life of his Youth Foundation would make a wonderful heartwarming movie... and we couldn't help but agree.
|
