MEDIA ADVISORY: Golf Tourney Seeks Participants To Help Raise Money For Attack Survivor

MEDIA ADVISORY                           
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: 
Anna Donato – sister, (813) 956-3822, avdonato1@gmail.com
Vanna Nguyen – mom, (813) 751-5745, vannablue9@yahoo.com
 
Golf Tourney Seeks Participants To Help Raise Money For Attack Survivor
A local golf tournament fundraiser is seeking participants and sponsors for an upcoming event on August 6 for the Bloomingdale Library Attack Survivor
 
WHAT:          
The Second Annual Hope Classic, a benefit for Bloomingdale Library Attack Survivor Queena, will be held Aug 6 at Topgolf Tampa. It will be a fun summer night, and participants will enjoy an all-American buffet, private cash bar, 50/50 raffle, silent auction, and of course golf! Money raised will be donated to the family to help pay for ongoing medical, therapy, and homecare expenses. Topgolf Tampa is one of the country’s few premier three-story golf entertainment complexes. Players hit golf balls containing computer microchips that track each shot’s accuracy and distance while also awarding points for hitting targets on the outfield. The venue offers an upscale, laid-back experience with an impressive food and drink menu.
 
WHO:
Everyone interested in participating should pre-register in advance. To register online and pay by credit card, please visit www.thehopeclassic.eventbrite.com. To register by mail and pay by check, please visit http://www.joinqueena.com/fundraisers/ to download the form. The registration deadline is Monday July 25.  Sixsome $400; Individual $75; Spectator/Dinner Only $30 (all registration fees and tournament sponsorships are tax-deductible donations).  For more information on sponsoring the tournament, please contact Anna Donato at avdonato1@gmail.com or 813-956-3822.
             
WHEN & WHERE:  
Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017, 5 – 9:00 pm at Topgolf Tampa, 10690 Palm River Rd, Tampa, FL 33619
 
WHY:
For the last nine years, Queena has relied on the generosity of the community to fund her continuous physical and occupational therapy sessions.  The level of therapy Queena requires is not covered by insurance and will be funded by the generosity of the community at fundraising events like the upcoming Hope Classic.  Stay in Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center provides a very special, hands-on and effective variation of physical therapy where Queena has made great strides.  At Stay in Step, Queena performs a variety of locomotor exercises to recollect the act of walking again. To further accomplish this goal, she also executes a number of different strengthening and balance exercises.
 
“Throughout Queena’s time at Stay in Step, it has been an incredible experience being able to see how much she’s excelled from her therapy. The strides she has taken have been an inspiration to all of us. The Stay in Step staff is extremely excited to see what Queena will be able to accomplish in the near future!” says Mike Lopez, Stay in Step Trainer Technician.
 
About the Bloomingdale Library Attack Survivor:
In April 2008, the young woman, formerly known as the Bloomingdale Library Attack Survivor, was brutally raped, beaten and left to die outside of the Bloomingdale Library in Brandon, Florida.
 
Equipped with an incredible will to survive, Queena did not die that night, and has spent more than nine years working hard to recover from the brutal attack. Queena, now 27 years old, was almost ready to graduate from high school and continue her education on a full scholarship to the University of Florida, but on that night, her life changed in an instant. Queena cannot walk, talk, see or eat on her own, but she is making improvements. She communicates through widening her eyes, smiling and clenching her fists. She requires around-the-clock care and attends daily physical, occupational and experimental therapies to aid her recovery. The recovery process is slow, but very noticeable, as she slowly makes strides toward regaining her own normalcy every day.  Queena’s attacker, Kendrick Morris, now 25, was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to 65 years in prison in 2010. In March 2017, Morris was re-sentenced to life in prison.
 
The community can follow Queena’s progress on her website JoinQueena.com.  This website documents Queena’s journey to regaining her life through therapy, faith and love as well as a glimpse to her daily life.  Medicaid covers only $1,500 per year of the Survivor’s physical therapy and speech therapy, while nearly $70,000 is required annually for all of treatments that have helped her make such progress. State funding for her home health care is soon to be cut in half as well. These additional expenses are funded through the generosity of the community and donations from supporters like you. 
 
Queena’s sister, Anna, has started a 501c3 non-profit organization called Hope Heals The Brain Inc. in hopes to continue raising funds and awareness for families and individuals affected by traumatic brain injury in the Central Florida region.
 
About Stay in Step:
Stay In Step is a non-profit recovery center designed to provide state of the art recovery to Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients in the Tampa Bay region and surrounding areas. We are a veteran support organization open to civilian SCI patients. Founder and Director, Gaby Camargo brings the unique combination of passion and experience from SCI within her own family with the unmatched technical and medical experience of Dr. Merrit and the Stay in Step Staff.This proactive approach to rehabilitation combined with real-time global collaboration with other SCI subject matter experts and patients, makes Stay in Step a unique and unprecedented center offering SCI patients in the Tampa area a pathway by which to start their journey toward recovery.
 
About Topgolf Tampa:
Topgolf Tampa is one of the country’s few premier three-story golf entertainment complexes. Players hit golf balls containing computer microchips that track each shot’s accuracy and distance while also awarding points for hitting targets on the outfield. The venue offers an upscale, laid-back experience with an impressive food and drink menu.
 
 
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