Hope Tees Off
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Hope Tees Off

Annual Heroes of Hope golf tournament promises to be bigger and better.

Golfers and numerous supporters will gather at the Lansdowne Resort, Saturday, April 28, for the sixth annual Heroes of Hope golf tournament. The Brad Kaminsky Foundation sponsors the tournament in order to raise awareness and funding for brain cancer research.

"This is going to be a really amazing year," Lisa Millar, founder of the foundation, said. "We hope to raise even more money than last year."

Millar's brother, Brad Kaminsky, died from a brain tumor Feb. 10, 2001; and Millar started the foundation in his memory, determined to help find a cure for brain cancer.

TO HELP raise money for cancer research, Millar organized a tournament for 144 golfers as well as several contests, including a Hole in One contest and an "In the Circle" golfing contest. Following the tournament, there will be a "19th Hole Flashback to the '80s" dinner in the Lansdowne Resort’s ballroom.

From 2 to 6 p.m., a silent auction will be held at the ballroom where people can bid on donated items from vacations to gift certificates.

"We have a lot of awesome items this year," Millar said. "There is a lot more than last year."

Included in the auction will be autographed items from the Washington Redskins, the Washington Capitals and Duke University, vacation packages such as tickets to a taping of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show in New York City with a hotel stay and a trip to California for a taping of Wheel of Fortune and a stay at the Beverly Hilton.

"There are a whole lot of D.C. items as well," Millar said. "There are gift cards from salons, restaurants and grocery stores."

Millar said there will even be a Tempur-Pedic mattress of any size up for sale. Smaller items such as jewelry and gift baskets will also be available.

Millar estimates there is $20,000 worth of items available for bids.

"In auctions that normally nets about half, so $10,000," she said.

THIS YEAR there will be a special section of the auction set up to benefit 20-month-old Taylor Love of Ashburn, who is suffering from neuroblastoma, a cancer that occurs in the sympathetic nervous system.

"They are neighbors," Millar said. "I happened to see a listing about them and I contacted them and said I wanted to help."

"Taylor’s Corner" will have handcrafted jewelry and other items, such as eight meals donated by Let’s Dish, for sale. All of the money raised in the special section will go specifically to Taylor’s treatment.

"Because of our status, the foundation cannot raise money for an individual family," Millar said. "By setting aside a special section where the family can sell items to people directly, it keeps the foundation out of it directly, but still helps them."

For more information about the golf tournament and silent auction, visit www.tbkf.org.

— Erika Jacobson