Camp COCO Golf Outing Set for June 8
Southern Illinois University Medicine invites golfers to form teams for the annual charity golf outing benefiting the Camp COCO Children’s Cancer Fund. A shotgun start will begin the game at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 8, at The Rail Golf Course, 1400 S. Club House Dr., Springfield. The presenting sponsors of the four-person scramble are the H. D. Smith Foundation and Bunn, and the double eagle sponsor is HSHS St. John’s Children’s Hospital.
An entry fee of $125 per player includes greens fees, golf cart, lunch by McCormick’s Smokehouse Restaurant, dinner by Robert’s Seafood Market, on-course beverages, games and prizes. Sponsorships at various levels of support, including golf carts dedicated in honor or memory of a family member or friend, also are available. Registrations postmarked by mail or received electronically by June 1 will be entered into a special prize drawing.
Now in its 33rd year, Camp COCO, which stands for Children’s Oncology Camp Organization, is a summer camp sponsored by the SIU Department of Pediatrics. The camp enables kids with cancer and blood disorders as well as their siblings to spend a week enjoying typical camping activities. The COCO Children’s Cancer Fund supports the camp and other projects for young patients.
Camp COCO is entirely supported by donations so that families do not have to pay to send a child to the medically supervised camp. An estimated 150 downstate Illinois children are expected to attend Camp COCO this summer at a cost of about $700 per child. The campers receive special attention from SIU’s pediatric staff and health professionals as well as various community volunteers.
This year’s camp will be held June 24-29 at Timber Pointe Outdoor Conference Center on Lake Bloomington. The first Camp COCO was held in 1986 for 40 pediatric patients and their siblings.
Send checks for the outing or sponsorships, payable to either Camp COCO or SIU Foundation, to the SIU Foundation, P.O. Box 19666, Springfield, IL 62794-9666, or call the SIU Foundation office at 217-545-2955 weekdays for information. Registrations are due Monday, June 4, and can be faxed to 217-545-1913. Registration can also be completed online.
