Mark Your Calendar: The Sixth Annual Kidney Open
If you need another excuse to get on the green one last time before the end of summer, the Sixth Annual Kidney Open on Monday, August 30, is it. Held at Wilmington’s DuPont Country Club, the low-key afternoon will be filled with friends, family, rounds of golf, tasty summer fare—and all proceeds will benefit the Gift of Life Organization, which strives to service the unmet needs of patients awaiting transplants by offering housing, meal service, and support to their family members.
“It’s a very blue collar golf tournament,” says Dan Sinnott, former CEO of Temple University Hospital and coordinator of the open. “It’s not fancy … It’s friends coming together. We don’t spend money on a lot of other things because we want the majority of the money to go towards the Gift of Life organization.”
The Kidney Open began six years ago when Dan was diagnosed with a tumor on his kidney. Yearning to play one last round of golf, he called his friends and organized a golf outing to take place the day before he underwent surgery. His surgery was a success, and with that life-changing experience he developed a newfound empathy for hospital patients. “I spent my whole career in health, and all of a sudden I became the patient,” he says.
A year after his surgery, the same friends who attended his pre-surgery game gave Dan a call and decided to make an annual event out of their golf outing. Four years ago, taking notice to the outing’s rising popularity, Dan collaborated with Howard Nathan, long-time friend and president and CEO of the Gift of Life Organization to use the event as a platform to raise funds for the Gift of Life Family House.
In the past six years the outing has grown from 20 to 40, and has now doubled it’s size with more than 100 participants already registered for this year. No matter your golfing ability, everyone is encouraged to come out and play. “The purpose is to have fun, its not competitive,” says Dan. “We have good golfers; we have not so good golfers. We want to have fun, raise money, and raise awareness.”
Tee time is set for 1p.m., and complimentary boxed lunches will be provided for each player. After a long day of golfing, hang around for a picnic-style cookout, where you can hang out with friends and have the opportunity to meet other players.
So how do you get involved? Register online here or if you can’t make it for the golfing, all are welcome to come for dinner or to make a donation through the Gift of Life website. — Alyssa Brindisi
DuPont Country Club, 1001 Rockland Road, Wilmington. Price includes greens fees, cart, box lunch, and picnic-style dinner: Foursome, $1,000; Single Golfer, $250; Dinner Only, $50. For more information, call 215-557-8090.
