Over $300,000 awarded to children's charities around the world through #RBCGolf4Kids
TORONTO, Aug. 14, 2014 /CNW/ - Armed with only the hashtag #RBCMcDowell and without making a single putt or drive, PGA TOUR pro and Team RBC golfer Graeme McDowell won the inaugural #RBCGolf4Kids online charity challenge. Instead of a trophy, he scored a $127,000 donation for Children's Medical & Research Foundation at the Our Lady Children's Hospital Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland to help thousands of children in need of assistance.
"I was delighted to win the #RBCGolf4Kids challenge for the Children's Medical and Research Foundation at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin," said Graeme McDowell. "The CMRF is a charity I have worked with for a number of years and they do tremendous work. I would like to thank RBC for their generosity, my followers on Twitter for their many thousands of tweets and everyone involved in making this campaign such a success. I know from first hand experience on my visits that the first prize of $127,000 will help so many children at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin".
"On behalf of the thousands of children who will benefit from this donation I want to say thank you to RBC, Graeme and the many thousands of fans who got behind #RBCMcDowell," commented Joe Quinsey, CEO of the CMRF. "We are absolutely thrilled that Graeme came out on top of this wonderful and innovative challenge and this donation will be used to purchase important cardiac vital signs monitors and pain relief pumps. Sick children can never wait and this brand new equipment will make a difference to the lives of patients, parents and hospital staff every day."
15-Week Online Challenge
Proving it's not just their play on the course, but what they do off the course that makes them good role models, 11 Team RBC professional golfers participated in the 15-week online challenge, which kicked off in April at the 2014 RBC Heritage and closed at the RBC Canadian Open in July. The challenge was designed to raise money and awareness for nine well-deserving children's charities in Canada, the US and Ireland. Each golfer and their charity used unique content to promote their specific hashtag among fans, and encouraged sharing and retweeting to win a portion of the $300,000 purse.
"#RBCGolf4Kids has been a runaway success and we were honoured to help spur on this friendly competition amongst Team RBC to benefit local children's charities," said Jane Broderick, chief brand and communications officer, RBC. "Team RBC ambassadors have shown time and again that in addition to being world-class golfers, they are equally as committed to giving back to their communities and making a difference in the lives of kids."
The campaign generated international awareness about children's charities across all social media channels, with thousands of fans, as well as celebrity friends and influencers supporting their favourite Team RBC golfers. Twitter favourites Niall Horan of One Direction, hockey player PK Subban of the Montreal Canadiens and Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson are among the notable participants who helped spread the word.
Final standing for #RBCGolf4Kids:
| RBC Player | Hashtag | Charity | Prize Money | Bonus Money | Total Donation |
| Graeme McDowell | #RBCMcDowell | Children's Medical Research Foundation (CMRF) | $125,000 | $2,000 | $127,000 |
| Luke Donald | #RBCDonald | Ronald McDonald House Charities Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana | $50,000 | $2,000 | $52,000 |
| Stephen Ames | #RBCAmes | Hull Services | $35,000 | $2,000 | $37,000 |
| Ernie Els | #RBCEls | Els For Autism | $25,000 | $2,000 | $27,000 |
| David Hearn | #RBCHearn | Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada | $15,000 | $2,000 | $17,000 |
| Brandt Snedeker | #RBCSnedeker | Our Kids | $5,000 | $12,000 | $17,000 |
| Graham DeLaet | #RBCDeLaet | Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
| Mike Weir | #RBCWeir | Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
| Jim Furyk | #RBCFuryk | Blessings in a Backpack | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
| Hunter Mahan | #RBCMahan | Blessings in a Backpack | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
| Morgan Pressel | #RBCPressel | Blessings in a Backpack | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
For further information visit www.rbcmakeyourmark.com.
RBC GOLF
RBC proudly supports golf around the world through high profile relationships with the PGA TOUR and Golf Canada. RBC is the Official Banking and Financial Services partner of touring professionals David Hearn, Graham DeLaet, Graeme McDowell, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Matt Kuchar, Mike Weir, Stephen Ames, and Morgan Pressel. As the title sponsor of both the RBC Heritage and the RBC Canadian Open, RBC also supports emerging Canadian golfers through Golf Canada's grassroots developmental programming, their Canadian Amateur Golf Championships and high performance national team. RBC is one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies and among the largest banks in the world, as measured by market capitalization. For more information, visit rbc.com/golf.
The Children's Medical and Research Foundation
The Children's Medical and Research Foundation (CMRF) is the principal fundraising body for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Ireland as well as the National Children's Research Centre and is dedicated to working to improve the quality of life for this and future generations of sick children.
They play a key role in supporting the hospital to deliver state of the art facilities; equipment, infrastructure, leisure and entertainment devices for the children, accommodation for families and other special requirements and needs. In addition they fund vital paediatric research and have been able to establish the National Children's Research Centre (NCRC), a world class facility which provides state of the art laboratory facilities for investigation into the causes and treatments of childhood disease.
Video with caption: "Video: Team RBC's Graeme McDowell visits Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland.". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20140814_C7205_VIDEO_EN_42425.mp4&posterurl=http://photos.newswire.ca/images/20140814_C7205_PHOTO_EN_42425.jpg&clientName=RBC&caption=Video%3A%20Team%20RBC%27s%20Graeme%20McDowell%20visits%20Our%20Lady%27s%20Children%27s%20Hospital%20Crumlin%20in%20Dublin%2C%20Ireland%2E&title=RBC%20%2D%20PGA%20Tour%20Golfer%20and%20Team%20RBC%20Ambassador%20Graeme%20Mcdowell%20Wins%20Online%20Charity%20Challenge%20for%20Children%27S%20Hospital%20in%20Ireland&headline=PGA%20Tour%20Golfer%20and%20Team%20RBC%20Ambassador%20Graeme%20McDowell%20Wins%20Online%20Charity%20Challenge%20for%20Children%27s%20Hospital%20in%20Ireland
Image with caption: "Team RBC's Graeme McDowell, winner of the #RBCGolf4Kids charity challenge, visits children at Our Lady Children's Hospital Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland. (CNW Group/RBC)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140814_C7205_PHOTO_EN_42422.jpg
SOURCE: RBC
André C. Roberts, RBC Brand & Corporate Citizenship Communications, RBC, 416-313-7436
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