RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Golf icon Gary Player presented a $150,000 check to the nearly completed FoundCare Riviera Beach health center on Monday, on behalf of the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation.
The donation marks the foundation’s ongoing commitment to community health, and their generosity will be honored through the naming of FoundCare’s pediatrics unit after Player and his foundation, according to a news release.
"Most importantly, all our pediatrics wing will be named after Gary Player and his foundation for the support they're giving us," said FoundCare Chief Executive Officer Christopher Irizarry.
Scheduled to open on June 16, the new Riviera Beach facility will offer a full range of services, including adult medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, dentistry, psychiatry, and an on-site pharmacy.
According to Irizzary, the company applied for funding and needed about $150,000, which the foundation offered.
"I get on the golf course and I'm like a lion. I'm so fierce," Player said. "Yet, when I get off the golf course, I'm a crybaby, as my great hero Winston Churchill was. It just gives me such joy to be able to see, having struggled the way I did, I experienced it. And if you experience it, you know what it's like."
According to officials, 30% of FoundCare's population is under 18, making the donation a significant contribution towards pediatric care for children in underserved communities.
"It's nice to be a world champion, but it's nicer to be a world champion with love," Player said.
Story courtesy of WPEC. A special thank you to Grace Bellinghausen. See the original feature here: Gary Player's foundation gives $150K to Riviera Beach pediatrics unit named in his honor
