The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial has generated cash and services for more than 120 community organizations over the last decade totaling more than $17 million.

Included in the initiatives is more than $500,000 raised annually since 1998 for our primary beneficiary, Cook Children's Medical Center.  Contributions support the program to ensure no child in need of medical attention is left untreated, regardless of financial means.

Every year since 1998 the tournament has surpassed the million dollar mark in annual charitable contributions.  Last year, the tournament smashed its $2 million goal by $700,000 raising a record $2.7 million for community service and charity donations.

The main charitable activities at this year's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial will include:

• Birdies For Charity
• The First Tee Kids Caddy
• Christina's Smile dentistry program

Birdies for Charity

The following 25 local charitable organizations are involved in the Birdies For Charity program:

• All Church Home of Children
• Alliance for Children
• Boys & Girls Club Arlington
• Boys & Girls Club of Fort Worth
• Camp Carter YMCA
• Child Advocates Tarrant County
• Child Study Center
• Cornerstone Assistance Network
• The First Tee of Arlington
• The First Tee of Fort Worth
• Fort Worth Museum of Science & History
• Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate
• Gill Children's Services
• Happy Hill Farm
• Hill School
• HOPE Farm
• Junior League of Fort Worth
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• Kids Who Care
• Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
• Lena Pope Home
• Presbyterian Night Shelter
• Texas Wesleyan University
• The Warm Place
• Youth Orchestra of Fort Worth

By pledging with any of these organizations, individuals, companies or groups commit an amount of money for every birdie the professionals make during the competitive rounds of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tournament.  The professionals make around 1,200 birdies during the tournament.  A one-cent pledge would equal a $12 donation.  On top of the money raised by the 25 organizations, the tournament will add to collected pledges by 20% on the first $20,000 raised by each charity.  The second $20,000 raised by each charity will receive an additional 10% match from the tournament.

This gives our community an opportunity to generate more than $1 million in charitable funding for worthy causes. "We are very proud to give back to the Fort Worth community and support the work of so many terrific organizations," said Colonial President Bill Bowers.  "This is a very philanthropic city, and we are pleased to play such a positive role each year in helping those in need."

Our tournament's title sponsor Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts is collecting Birdies For Charity pledges at more than 150 of its properties to benefit Cure Kids Cancer Coalition, a Children's Miracle Network charity.  This is in addition to the local Birdies For Charity program.

Christina's Smile

Back for its third year at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial is Christina's Smile, a dentistry program offering free dental care to needy children.  The Boys & Girls Club of Fort Worth coordinates the program.  Care is administered to more than 200 children through a mobile dental clinic which is in Fort Worth during tournament week.

The First Tee Kids Caddie

During last year's tournament, more than 50 area children, ages five to 15 were treated to an experience of a lifetime during the Wednesday Crowne Plaza Pro-Am.  The First Tee program in Fort Worth and Arlington arranged for the kids to caddie for professionals on the par-3 hole No. 4.  The event proved to be a highlight of the tournament, winning overwhelming approval from the professionals, tournament officials and volunteers from The First Tee.  The kids will be back again at Wednesday's Crowne Plaza Pro-Am caddying for professionals on No. 4, and this year they will also caddie during the Monday Hogan Pro-Am as well.

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Charities

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tournament donations focus on children and support a variety of programs, including camp scholarships for disabled, special needs or low-income children, residency programs/services for abused, neglected and at-risk children, cultural programs/field trips for underserved students, college scholarships, educational mentoring programs, medical diagnostic and treatment services for disabled and low-income children, after-school programs, support services for homeless families and more.

The tournament generated contributions to these local organizations: All Church Home for Children, Alliance for Children, All Saints Health Foundation, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth, Boy Scouts Longhorn Council, Buckner Children and Family Services, Camp Carter YMCA, Camp Fire USA, Camp Summit, Cancer Care Services, Casa Manana, Cassata High School, Child Advocates of Tarrant County, Child Study Center, Christ's Haven for Children, Clayton YES!, Cornerstone Assistance Network, Easter Seals, Ekklesia Christian School, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, The First Tee of Arlington, The First Tee of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth Opera Children's Theater, Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Youth Program, Gill Children's Services, Bart Granger Foundation, Goodfellow Fund, Harris Methodist Health Foundation, Hill School, Historic Fort Worth, H.O.P.E. Farm, Imagination Celebration, Junior Achievement, Junior League of Fort Worth, Kids Who Care, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Lena Pope Home, Lighthouse for the Blind, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Mental Health Association of Tarrant County, MHMR Visions, Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Performing Arts Fort Worth, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Prevent Blindness Texas, Ronald McDonald House, SafeHaven of Tarrant County, Schola Cantorum, Soutwestern Exposition and Stock Show, Summerbridge School, Tarrant Area Food Bank, Tarrant Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Tarrant County Challenge, TCU Kinderfrogs School, TCU Mimir Festival, Texas Boys Choir, Texas Girls Choir, Texas Golden Gloves, Texas Golf Association, Texas Wesleyan University, Trinity Habitat for Humanity, Union Gospel Mission, United Community Centers, United Way of Tarrant County, The WARM Place, Wings of Hope Equitherapy, Women's Center of Tarrant County, Youth Orchestra of Fort Worth, and YWCA Child Care Center.

The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial undertakes programs on several fronts to generate financial support for Cook Children's Medical Center, including an exclusive charity golf outing. In this event, a limited field of 100 golfers played the prestigious Colonial golf course just two weeks prior to the annual PGA TOUR event. During the TOUR event, other activities focused on Cook as well, with proceeds of more than $500,000 going to the medical center, of $1.6 million overall to the community.

Children, from birth through adolescence, have always been at the heart of Cook Children's Medical Center. When it comes to children's medical care, one size does not fit all. The 282-bed medical center offers high-tech equipment, surgery, rehabilitation facilities and ancillary services all designed to meet the special needs of children.

For more than 80 years, residents of West and North Central Texas have trusted the care of their children to Cook Children's Medical Center. Fulfilling their trust is a commitment the medical center employees and physicians take very seriously.

A medical/dental staff of more than 500 pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, family practitioners and dentists use their unique skills to enhance the comprehensive and compassionate care that has become a hallmark of Cook. Cook Children's offers more than 30 pediatric specialties and services, ranging from cardiology and bone marrow transplantation to neurology and orthopedics, and from psychiatry to infectious diseases.

Child Life specialists help young patients understand medical conditions and treatments and cope with frightening or painful procedures. They also provide play and group activities to help relieve the normal stress and anxiety of a hospital stay.

Cook Children's Medical Center has the area's only designated pediatric trauma receiving center, which is part of an Emergency Department that includes trauma services, urgent care and child sexual abuse services. The Emergency Department, staffed 24 hours a day with pediatric emergency medicine physicians, treats more than 85,000 children annually for problems ranging from severe asthma attacks to injuries in car accidents. Often working hand-in-hand with the Emergency Department, the Surgery Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit are equipped to treat the acute injuries, as well as provide critical care for very ill children.

Treatment does not always take place within the walls of the hospital. The medical center is the cornerstone for the Cook Children's Health Care System, which also includes a network of pediatric physicians, home health services and a non-commercial pediatric health maintenance organization. The primary service area consists of Tarrant, Denton, Hood, Wise, Parker and Johnson counties. In fiscal year 2003, patients also came from more than 100 Texas counties, 35 states and foreign countries.

Other key elements of Cook Children's include Cook Children's Physician Network, home health services and Teddy Bear Transport Service, a link between the medical center and remote towns and rural areas. Medical transport services include an ambulance with special adapatations for children and newborns, and a twin engine turboprop King Air B 200 fixed-wing aircraft, fully equipped as a flying intensive care unit, to transport critically ill children throughout Texas and the nation.

Home health provides services for children at home in the Metroplex recovering from injury or illness, or with chronic diseases. These children need assistance with ventilators, intravenous medications, therapy or other services that do no require hospitalization. The physician network has more than 35 pediatric offices located throughout the Metroplex, including four primary care clinics in low income or underserved areas. Specialty care clinics are also located in Midland, Waco, Abilene and other Texas cities that lack access to services for pediatric cardiology, cancer, genetics and other specialties.

Cook Children's Health Care System provided more than $119 million in uncompensated care in fiscal year 2003. That amount includes charity, Medicaid shortfalls and non-payments.

Community support for Cook Children's Medical Center is a treasured relationship which traces its roots back to the founding of the Fort Worth Free Baby Clinic in 1918 and W.I. Cook Memorial Hospital in 1926. The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial golf tournament is proud to support Cook's goal of giving children a chance to enjoy a healthy future and the opportunity to reach their full potential.