HOOVER, AL (WBMA) — This year the Regions Tradition Golf Tournament falls on Mother’s Day weekend.
Since the tournament benefits Children’s of Alabama, organizers wanted to make sure the mothers who will be spending the holiday in the hospital will have a day they’ll never “fore”-get.
“Imagine as a mother being at the hospital on Mother’s Day,” says Gary Parisher, president of Cheeriodicals.
That’s like being in the rough.
“And then all of a sudden they get this green box of cheer,” says Emily Hornak, marketing director at Children’s of Alabama.
That’s a hole in one, 360 green boxes of cheer to be exact. They’re called Cheeriodicals.
“I mean it is remarkable to think about what that feeling will be for those moms that receive it on Mother’s Day morning,” says Hornak.
Hundreds of volunteers, including ABC 33/40’s own Brenda Ladun, packed the boxes with items moms can use while they’re with their kids in the hospital.
“We want them to know that we haven’t forgotten about them, that they are very important and they should be honored as well on Mother’s Day,” says Kaylon Mikula, a volunteer packing boxes with her coworkers from Alabama Power Service Organization.
Organizers are taking a swing at something new during this year’s tournament.
“I know what a terrible experience it can be to worry about your child, so when this idea came to us, that we could do something special for the moms who are sitting in the hospital worried about their kids, it was a natural,” says Matt Scalici, President of Greystone Gold and Country Club.
Birmingham based company, Cheeriodicals, gives corporate companies a chance to do team building that matters by packing boxes for children in hospitals across the country.
The boxes packed on Monday have blankets, anti-slip socks, mugs, tea for mom, and special boxes for the kids too.
“The items we put in for the kids are really chosen by child life programs across the country at Children’s Hospitals. They come to us and say well for a 6-8-year-old boy, we’d like to have a ball you can squeeze, something that makes them use their dexterity. Something to paint with,” says Parisher.
The Regions Tradition may be about golf, but this year, to hundreds of families, green will mean something different.
“It’s a perfect community project for all of us to come together and do something that makes a difference,” says Parisher.
Organizers plan to hand out the boxes to mothers and children at Children’s of Alabama on Sunday morning.