Blake Bortles Foundation hosting charity golf tourney
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is hosting a two-day fundraiser to raise money for children with learning disabilities.
The inaugural Blake Bortles Charity Golf Tournament starts April 15 with a pairings party, live and silent auctions and a concert by country singer Jon Pardi, whose “Up All Night” single reached the Top 10.
The event will be at the convention center at Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village in St. Augustine.
On April 16, golfers will start play at 10 a.m. at the King & Bear Golf Course. Afterward, country singer Kane Brown will headline Saturday’s concert lineup.
Tickets to the concerts, as well as sponsorship opportunities and golf foursomes, can be purchased at BlakeBortlesFoundation.com.
Bortles established the foundation this year to support children with intellectual and developmental challenges in their pursuit of full, independent lives and to provide support to first responders, with the goal of improving their ability to safely carry out their work.
The foundation is accepting grant and scholarship applications in those areas, with an emphasis on autism.
Parents share story of loss at Justice Coalition’s breakfast
The Justice Coalition’s 14th annual Together We Can breakfast featured the parents of Daniel Rowe, who was murdered in July in Riverside.
Raelyn and Steven Rowe’s son also left behind a fiancé and two children.
He was killed by two men while taking out the trash at the Blind Rabbit in Riverside.
The Rowes shared how the Justice Coalition helped them with grief counseling, raising money for a reward and connecting them with families in similar situations.
“People all them a blessing or angels here on earth,” Raelyn Rowe said. “The Justice Coalition was undeniably necessary for us.”
Steven Rowe was too grief stricken to return to work at the restaurant across the street from where his son was killed.
The couple also took in their son’s fiancé and children. The couple received a $1,000 gift card to Walmart to help them financially.
It was announce that next year’s breakfast is Feb. 16.
Paxon student wins annual Rotary Club speech contest
Stevin Smith, a senior at Paxon School for Advanced Studies, beat four other area high school seniors to win the 2016 Rotary Oratory Competition.
Smith’s speech was about what Jacksonville and the First Coast communities can do to gain national and international recognition. He won $5,500 in scholarship funds.
Nathan Veatch of St. Augustine was second and won $3,000 in scholarship funds.
Students from 20 area high schools took part in the contest, which is a project of the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville.
Other finalists were Sean Morrison of Atlantic Coast High School, Auriel Haack of St. Johns Country Day School and Jalicia Lewis of Stanton College Preparatory School. They each received $1,000 scholarships.
Eat a pancake, help a child
National Pancake Day returns March 8 at International House of Pancakes locations across the country.
The restaurant will give a free stack of pancakes to customers, asking them to make a voluntary donation for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.
Wolfson Children’s Hospital and the pediatric programs at UF Health Jacksonville are part of the national network.
The event, in its 11th year, has raised more than $20 million nationwide.
It runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at these local IHOP locations:
• 7940 103rd St.
• 8400 Baymeadows Road
• 315 Blanding Blvd.
• 9010 Atlantic Blvd.
• 2560 Florida 16 in St. Augustine
• 1825 East/West Parkway in Fleming Island
For information on IHOP National Pancake Day, to learn more about CMN Hospitals or to make an online donation, visit IHOPPancakeDay.com.
Setting a record for 42 flights
More than 350 climbers raced up 42 flights of stairs in the Bank of America Tower Downtown for the 2016 Fight for Air Climb.
Nobody did it faster than Troy Alston, 27, who set a course record with a time of 4 minutes, 24 seconds. This was the Jacksonville native’s fifth win since 2011.
The annual event raises money for research, education and patient programs for people with asthma, lung cancer, COPD and other lung diseases.
Alston attended weekly training sessions leading up to the event. He also went to Gainesville to run the stairs at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He recently finished 10th overall and first in his age category in the Empire State Run-Up in New York City. His time was 13 minutes, 3 seconds.
Daniel Kids gets $30,000
Enterprise Integration recently donated $30,000 to Daniel Kids as a sponsor of the nonprofit’s 15 annual Golf Classic. The Jacksonville-based IT company has contributed each year to tournament, donating a total of $200,000.
From left are, Billy Steeghs, Enterprise Integration senior vice president; Tracey Brown, Enterprise Integration chief technology officer; Mike Locher, Enterprise Integration CEO; Michael, a Daniel kid; Jim Clark, Daniel Kids CEO; Rob Loiselle, Daniel Kids golf tournament chair; and Warren Caterson, Daniel Kids chief development officer.