Blue Hills Country Club Picked To

        Host 2009 Kansas City Golf Classic

The 2nd annual Kansas City Golf Classic will be held on Monday, June 29th, at the beautiful Blue Hills Country Club.

The Robert Dunning 7,250 yard layout has hosted many state and USGA events.  With the completion of a greens renovation in 2005, Blue Hills has a bent grass putting surface that is second to none.  Blue Hills is also the only course in the world where Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and Lee Trevino played together in the same group!  Click here for a sponsorship brochure or call 816-889-9474 for more information.

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        Wish Gala Welcomes In New Year

The InterContinental Kansas City hotel was the place to be on New Year's Eve, as the Make-A-Wish Kansas City Program Center hosted its inaugural Wish Gala.   Titled Wish In The New Year, guests were treated to gourmet dining, live entertainment by the Boulevard Band, a live and silent auction and casino games.  More than 200 people attended the Gala and, judging by all the fun they had, we should easily double that number at the 2009 gala. Click here to see our gala photos.

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            Hot Air Balloons Help Kick Off

             Winter Fundraising Campaign

Hot air balloons and the hot sound of the KC All Star Band were the major attractions, as the Kansas City Program Center began its winter Stories of Light fundraising campaign.  Mission Farms in Leawood hosted the event.  Restaurants in the Mission Farms development provided food and drinks for our guests, while games and activities were set up for all the kids who came.  Click here to see photos from the event. 

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    First Kansas City Golf Classic A Huge Success

            Bill Tracy and Tab White                     Wish Teen Jeffrey and his painting

     Winning team from ClaimSolution       Fox4's Karli Ritter serves as auctioneer

Great weather, a great golf course and a great turnout all added up to a great time at the inaugural Kansas City Golf Classic tournament on Monday, June 30th.  UnitedHealthcare was the signature sponsor of the event, which was held at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate.

33 teams teed off under bright blue skies, and 80 degree temperatures made a perfect day to be out on the links.  The teams that signed up as tournament sponsors played for more than pride.  The team with the best score would qualify for the Sponsors Champions Challenge, and take on the winning Make-A-Wish teams from the Springfield Golf Classic and the St. Louis Golf Classic.  The Champions Challenge will be held September 12th and 13th at the Porto Cima Golf Club in the Lake of the Ozarks.  And the winning sponsor team from Kansas City is-- ClaimSolution!

A live auction was held following the 18 holes of golf, and one of the highlighted items was a special painting done by Wish Teen Jeffrey.  Jeffrey is a very talented artist who is donating 12 paintings to Sir Elton John.  Sir Elton will hang the paintings in the AIDS clinics that he runs in Africa.  To learn more about Jeffrey's artwork and his donations to Make-A-Wish and other charities, click here to visit his website.

We offer a very special thanks to UnitedHealthcare's Bill Tracy and tournament chair Tab White from McCown Gordon for their tireless efforts to make the tournament such a success.  We are already planning next year's outing, so start lining up a foursome for the event!