A sold-out group of 80 golfers teed off at the lush links of the Windsor Club for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Charity Golf Fundraiser, where Fish played through with each foursome on the 17th hole.
All that practice clearly paid off. Fish, a silver medalist in tennis at the 2004 Olympic games, won the celebrity division of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at the Lake Nona Country Club a few days later.
Although he currently resides in California, Fish said he tries to visit some of the school programs they fund whenever he’s in town, adding, “I love it when I do, and I love seeing the growth of it.”
The nonprofit has greatly expanded since its founding in 2007, when they provided tennis and enrichment programs to children at Pelican Island Elementary School.
“This has grown into something way more than we expected. We’ve got so many great programs now,” said Sally Fish, Mardy’s mother. “We now have a junior board, which is high school kids, and it’s something they can put on their resumes.”
Lynn Southerly, MFCF executive director, said they currently serve some 2,000 children, slightly less than pre-COVID, but noted that the actual grant requests have increased.
“We’re finding our biggest issue is that everybody needs transportation. All the parents of the underserved kids we serve are working two and three jobs and they can’t get the kids to the activity,” said Southerly.
“I think that’s going to be a focus for us; to try to help some of these organizations to get their own transportation. We’re going to try to find some discounts or people who are willing to help with that.”
MFCF assists numerous children’s nonprofit organizations, funding a wide variety of afterschool and summer activities, including basketball, golf, horseback riding, gardening and art. They also provide tennis programs at middle schools and for fourth- and fifth-grade students in most of the elementary schools, and hope to expand their summer tennis program at Riverside Park.
“We have three grant cycles a year; fall, spring and summer. We review every program, we meet with them, we go see the kids and basically, if they can provide a healthy after school activity in a safe environment, we’re funding them,” said Southerly.
This year, she said they had a lot of requests for cheerleading, following school budget cuts, and provided funding at elementary, middle and high school levels.
“Cheerleading these days is intense gymnastics; it’s very competitive. They’re going to all these competitions, they’re paying choreographers to help them get these routines, and some of the girls are getting scholarships to college on it,” said Southerly.
“We want to get the word out so people know we will review your activity and if it meets our healthy requirements, we want to fund it,” Southerly added.
“Opportunity, not circumstance, should determine a child’s life,” said longtime supporter Joe Pappalardo. “And the Mardy Fish Foundation provides that opportunity.”
The MFCF USTA Pro Circuit Tennis Tournament will take place April 24-30 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge. For more information, visit MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
