Hat Club of Little Rock Lifts UAMS Neonatal Program with $30,000 Gift
| Aug. 2, 2018 | Flush with young professionals and new fathers, members of the Hat Club of Little Rock recently presented a $30,000 check to benefit the UAMS neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Close to two dozen of the club’s members collectively presented a check July 13 to UAMS Consortium board members Daniel Beck, Mitsy Tharp, Jared Landrum and Michael Videll. The event was held at the Rebsamen Golf Course in Little Rock to kick off the Hat Club’s annual golf tournament.
Hat Club member Eric Elizondo, right, greets Tim Dockery, UAMS director of planned giving.
“UAMS has a special place in the Hat Club members’ hearts,” said Erik Bailey, a Hat Club board member. “What they do in the NICU, saving babies and making the families comfortable, it really hits home for us as a group of young men.”
The Hat Club of Little Rock is a nonprofit organization committed to helping charitable organizations through fundraising events to better the community. The club’s website describes its members as “hat fellers,” or “a philanthropic man known by his generosity, commitment to communal causes, kind disposition, his willingness to volunteer his time for the benefit of his neighbors and of course… his distinctive hat.”
Funds were raised from the club’s 9th annual Hat Club Crawfish Salute, a fundraiser that supports organizations and people that give back to their community. Hat Club members Bailey and John Kincannon were co-chairs of the event.
“The UAMS NICU is most appreciative of the generous donation to our unit by the Hat Club,” said R. Whit Hall, M.D., a neonatologist and professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine. “This donation will be put to good use for our patients and families as we continue to provide critical support for Arkansas’ most vulnerable babies.”
The Hat Club, through its annual events and volunteer work, has donated more than $400,000 to over 32 charities since its inception in 2010.