60
| SUNRAYS
JANUARY 2013
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
F
or the last six years, Sun City
Texas has hosted one of the larg-
est co-ed golf tournaments in the
U.S.—and all in the spirit of giving back.
Since 2007, The Sun City Rally for the
Cure has raised almost $62,000 for Ko-
men Austin, not including the $18,400
raised in 2012 alone. Most years sell
out, bringing together more than 380
participants from all across Central
Texas and Sun City Texas. And, to or-
ganizer Barbara Berry, that’s what it’s
all about—not the money brought in, but
that spirit of giving and the love gener-
ated for a common cause.
Rally History
Barbara began the rally in 2007, when
she was president of the 18-Hole Women’s
Golf Association. At the time, her friend
and neighbor happened to be the presi-
dent of the Men’s Golf Association.
“
I got the idea of putting together men
and women, and, because we were
friends, it was easy to coordinate,” Bar-
bara said. “We didn’t know how it would
go over, but, that first year, we had 256
golfers—that’s when we only had two golf
courses! So when we added the third golf
course, we added another 128 golfers.”
The key component of the tournament
is having fun—and having fun while
giving back. The rally begins with a
Shoot-Out / Putting Contest at Café on
the Green the evening before the tour-
nament, and that is when participants
really start to get into the giving spirit.
Barbara is always amazed when, just
about every year, the prizewinners don’t
even open their winning envelopes—they
just hand them back to her to be given
to Komen, a phenomenon that continues
throughout the tournament and the fi-
nale luncheon. She said that, in 2012,
all of the winners of the tournament and
the shootout gave back 100 percent of
their winnings.
“
A whole lot of people feel good about giv-
ing. I want as many people as possible
to feel good about supporting, and that
was the purpose behind [the rally]—to
get our men and women together on a
A Spirit of Giving
By Maggi Jones
PHOTO BYMAGGI JONES
