Today Ledgestone TD Nate Heinold is announcing that the tournament’s added cash will increase $5,000 above and beyond the promised amount, which will push the total professional purse to nearly $110,000. Additionally Heinold is announcing that the tournament is aiming to raise $50,000 for St Jude, which would shatter the previous fundraising record.
“The success of the Ledgestone pro shop has led us to be able to give additional funds to both our players and to our tournament charity, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We know it’s been a tough year for touring pros and this is a small token that will hopefully help them a little,” said Heinold. Heinold went on to explain that things have been tough for St Jude this year, with many fundraising events having been cancelled because of the pandemic. Unfortunately cancer doesn’t want, and Heinold had it in the back of his mind to see what he could do. “I started to think about this goal a few weeks ago, but figured it was a pipe dream. The goal of $50,000 is still probably a stretch, but if enough disc golfers come together it is possible,” said Heinold.
So what will it take to get to that number? The tournament does several things to raise funds for St Jude, with the two primary methods being the St Jude raffle and special Discraft fundraiser discs. “Because of supply chain issues, I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get the fundraiser discs. Mike and Bob and the rest of the team at Discraft made it a huge priority to get these done in time, so we are thrilled to be releasing 200 special (2) packs of special Midnight Z Lunas and Fierces with a special stamp. Each disc will come with a Limited Edition COA and these will go on sale soon,” said Heinold. 100% of the proceeds will go to St Jude from these disc sales, as well as all of the proceeds from the raffle. Additional fundraising comes directly from Ledgestone Insurance/Nate Heinold and Erie Insurance, a company that Ledgestone represents. Additionally the tournament will be selling special Buzzz bee patches for the GRIPeq player pack bags at check-in, with all of those proceeds going to St Jude.
AM players won’t be shortchanged, as they will be treated to a disc golf record Amateur payout of more than $100,000, as well as their $500 player packs and two free meals. “I think Discraft had to ship all of their warehouse stock to get enough discs for the AM payout,” Heinold joked. The 2020 Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open presented by GRIPeq starts this coming Thursday and goes through Sunday.
