SWING INTO ACTION
Golf, tennis tournament raises $250,000 for health center, St. Francis Hospital
HARTFORD – Over the past decade, the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity has screened, diagnosed and treated dozens of men with prostate cancer.
On Monday the thousands of dollars raised at the annual SWING Curtis D. Robinson Golf and Tennis Outing, will go toward continuing the work of the center, as well as St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and rehabilitation programs at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital.
This year, the tournament at the Tumble Brook Country Club in Bloomfield raised about $250,000, said Lynn Rossini, vice president of the St. Francis Foundation. Throughout the 30 years the foundation has hosted the SWING annual benefit, the foundation has raised millions of dollars, Rossini said.
The funds were primarily raised through the foundation’s sponsors, purchasing sponsorship packages for the tournament and having representatives participate in
the events.
The money raised is divided between the three causes, Rossini said. The Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity, nursing education at St. Francis Hospital and rehabilitation programs at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital each receive part of the donated funds.
In the 30 years of the SWING tournament, the impact of the foundation’s work and the Curtis D. Robinson Center is palpable, Rossini said.
“[The event] has had a profound impact. Nursing education is so important because it makes and helps our nurses be the very best they can be. The Mount Sinai rehabilitation program helps people who are going through really difficult transitions in their lives. It helps them get back on their feet,” Rossini said.
The St. Francis Foundation began its annual golf and tennis fundraiser three decades ago but joined forces with the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity, which address the ethnic disparities in men’s health, about four years ago, Rossini said.
“Curtis D. Robinson is such a good person. He really draws all those celebrities in. He asks, and they want to help support the community,” Rossini said. Robinson, a longtime Hartford business leader, is the president of C&R Development Company, the largest minority construction management company in the East.
The all-day event, which ran from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., featured celebrity appearances throughout the day, including: Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, actor and singer Clifton Davis, child actor Chase W. Dillon, singer Smokey Robinson and UConn Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Calhoun.
“I think other than Travelers this is one of the most well attended celebrity events of the year,” Rossini said.