Hope Forward
Hope Forward, a podcast by Rexanna’s Foundation, features real patient stories, expert medical conversations, educational insights, and research updates — bringing together patients, physicians, and advocates united in the fight against lung cancer. Each episode explores real experiences, emerging research, and the work happening every day to shape the future of care.
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Hope Forward
More Than a Golf Tournament: How We Raised $83,000 for Lung Cancer Research
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#003 In this episode, Lisa Spain and Lindsey Vaughn recap the first ever Carr & Jacobi Classic golf tournament—sharing key moments, the impact behind the event, and how it raised over $83,000 for lung cancer research. A powerful look at community, purpose, and making a difference.
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We had no idea how big it was going to be. What happened that day reminded us exactly why we're here to fight against lung cancer in the first place.
SPEAKER_01When you think about we had 144 golfers, you know, we're talking what, 80 plus golf carts that are all lined up in rows. Um, that was pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_00If you have lungs and if you breathe, you can get lung cancer. One of the fastest growing population is never smokers.
SPEAKER_01So I know everybody, this is the big question. How much money was raised at the first ever car in Jacoby Classic?
SPEAKER_00Yes, drumroll please. Super excited. We raised $83,432.51. It was unbelievable. Welcome to the Hope Forward Podcast. I'm Lisa Spain. Today we are going to be sharing with you about the Carr and Jacoby Classic. This was our golf tournament fundraiser, and man oh man, what a great day we had. This was our first golf tournament we've ever had, and we had no idea how big it was going to be. What happened that day reminded us exactly why we're here to fight against lung cancer in the first place. It was a day filled with hope, a day that was absolutely unforgettable, powerful moments, and a community coming together in a united fight against lung cancer. Joining me today is Lindsay Vaughn. She's the COO of Rexana's Foundation, and Lindsay played an essential role in planning this event. And we wanted to share with you the impact of this event. Lindsay, welcome to Hope Forward Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I'm really excited to be here and talk about this amazing event that we had.
SPEAKER_00Yay! It's exciting for me too, because usually I'm doing these podcasts and it's just me by myself. So it's fun to have a collaborator.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it was our first golf tournament. How did the tournament and event get started or come about?
SPEAKER_00Well, first of all, we have such an amazing dynamic group in Austin. And for years since we started, uh Rexanna, who the foundation's name for, coached and taught at Lake Travis with myself. So she was my best friend there. And so when Rexanna passed away from lung cancer, we decided to host our first event, which was a gala-type event in Houston in Austin. And we had our first event in 2007. And so until 2005, all of our events have been galas. They're in the Austin area. And our team decided it was time to shake it up a little bit. It's time to do something different. Several people had talked about different activities, events. And um, you know, you and I went to a conference that really told about the impact of golf tournaments and how exciting they can be. So we shared it with our board and they were like ready to roll. Ross Speed, who's one of our board of directors members, he just took the idea and flew with it. He was instrumental in really delivering it, but there were so many others that were really a part of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really good. Let's tell everybody why it was called the Carr and Jacoby Classic.
SPEAKER_00So that makes my heart just so happy just thinking about it. Because, first of all, Kelly Carr is a warrior, man. She is amazing. She has lived 11 plus years battling lung cancer. Such a fighter, a bright light. She smiles every day, and she absolutely is not defined by lung cancer. But Kelly and I have been friends for a while, and our board just thought that was the right thing to do. She's from the Lake Travis area. And so we wanted to honor her. We wanted to celebrate her just passion for living. And so, and we wanted people to see real-world, everyday people that are battling lung cancer, that are living vibrant lives. And so Kelly was one of those. Our other person that we recognize was Jeff Jacoby. And Jeff has had a totally different journey with lung cancer. Jeff's diagnosis was found by accident, which is what usually happens if you're going to catch it early. And Jeff's diagnosis was because a scan was actually taken too low on his lung, which is crazy. And they picked up the cancer. So Jeff was able to have surgery for his because it was diagnosed early. So you have Kelly who is still battling and taking treatments monthly. And you have Jeff, who's an amazing individual, who had the opportunity for surgery. So we felt like as a board, one, we want to honor and celebrate anybody battling cancer of any form, but certainly with lung cancer, we want to recognize them, but we wanted to also share the different avenues that people take because the journey of lung cancer is so different from any other cancer. So it was a true pleasure for me. I love both of those individuals. I love their families, and it was an honor for Rexana's foundation to be able to celebrate them and the title. And it will always be called the Car and Jacoby Classic. So it's really, really a cool event.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_00So if you had to pick one moment from the event, Lindsay, that was absolutely an unforgettable moment from that day, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01It's hard to just pick one, but I do think the moment as we were getting ready to all the golfers to be taken to their holes to go start was pretty amazing. I mean, when you think about we had 144 golfers, um, you know, we're talking what 80 plus golf carts that are all lined up in rows. Um, that was pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was a really cool experience. Plus, the vibe there, the energy was so electric, right? Everybody couldn't believe it. And it was really cool to see our team and Kelly and Jeff be so moved by the fact that people showed up to celebrate and to participate. So I thought that was a really special moment. And it was also like, we pulled it on here and we made it, right? That was fun.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that was really awesome. Well, do you have an unforgettable moment of the day?
SPEAKER_00I think for me, the moment for me was at the banquet, the dinner program, and Kelly Carr's husband, Stuart, talked and shared about their journey and talked about Kelly in such an amazing way. And he shared what a hero she was. But Stuart really leaned in and gave everyone in the audience a two true perspective of what it's like to navigate life, keep smiling, push through, even on the difficult days when a week a month Kelly is down for treatments, and um it's pretty debilitating and trying to recover and snap back out of that. So I I thought it was such a powerful display of his love, his honor of her, and um again, it told a different perspective of the caregiver and Kelly. I I thought it was an amazing moment.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was really great. Well, do you want to talk a little bit about the behind the scenes? You know, all of our events that we do, it takes a lot of planning and preparation. So, do you want to give a little snapshot of what that looks like for us?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you can jump in anytime you want because I know you really navigate a lot of this, but it is a great question because whenever we have a big event like this, we're truly planning a year out. It's a lot of work. I mean, we didn't even get a week out of the event, and we're already on the calendar planning 27, right? So a lot of it is a divide and conquer. So I spend a lot of time with the people, the patients, um, directly with sponsors, and I just start talking about it and visiting with people. And then, of course, on Lindsay's side and our team sides, there's all the logistics, the planning, and putting that into place, you know. Um, but there's a lot that goes into it. There's contracts you have to put in place, uh, meal planning, what are we gonna have? You know, what does the agenda look like for the day? And I I gotta say, it's always interesting to me, and maybe it is what scares people my personality, but I'm like cup overflowing. We can make this happen, it's gonna happen, you know. And when you're doing a new event, I'm like, don't worry, it's gonna happen. We're gonna feel it. And then sometimes along the way, everybody's like, is this really gonna happen? Are people gonna do it? And so it's really awesome for me when everybody around me starts seeing it come to fruition. I love the look on your face when you're like, oh my gosh, all these registrations, or Kelly and Jeff's face, and they're like, they're really coming, and then to see it. So for me, I and I guess certainly when you've been doing it as long as I have, you know, almost 20 years. You see, it makes me emotional. You see how blessed we've been in this journey. Um, you see all these events do come to fruition. So I do have the behind the scenes and a level of confidence that if we build it, they will come. And that's really what happened at this golf tournament. So that was pretty special. Yeah, that was really good. I don't want to leave too, and I know we'll talk about it probably later on, our volunteers, but while it's just you and I and we navigate the infrastructure, the contracts, the details, there's not a single event that could take place at the level that we do them, the professionalism, how big, the large numbers. If we didn't have a wonderful board of directors and we didn't have a wonderful team of volunteers that were there in the Austin area help navigate that. So I want to, you know, set that context, but we'll talk more about them later.
SPEAKER_01Well, tell us about the venue and the golf course a little bit. I mean, we got the best weather we could ever ask for, but tell us kind of about the course.
SPEAKER_00Well, that was sure. Yeah, it was a perfect day. We could have had a little less wind, but it was a perfect day. But um, the venue we were at Flint Rock Falls golf course, it was stunning. It's a beautiful course to my golfers. It is a tough course, you've got to keep that ball in the fairway, but um, it's a special private course. So we were able to bring golfers in to a course they've probably not played before, which made that a lot of fun. And um, the team at Flint Rock Falls, Cassie was our partner there to help set things up. They were amazing to work with, they were so thoughtful, they were just really considerate, wanting it to be the vibe we wanted it to be. They wanted to honor our guests, and so anybody that was there, they they said it was over the top, the organization, the structure of it. So I thought that was amazing. Now we've already started working on 27. I mentioned that earlier. So um at Flint Rock Falls, the environment is set up for about 200, 225 capacity in their venues. So we are actually going to go bigger next year because we sold out. So we're gonna do a 36-hole event that will allow us to have uh probably another 18 teams so we can spread it out and not have two carts on every hole, two foresome. So that's gonna be fantastic. And we're gonna add the heels course. So we'll have the 18 holes of Flint Rock, and we're gonna have 18 holes at the heels, and we'll divide our players up. Those that played at Flint Rock Falls, we'll let them play the Hills next year, and our new people will play Flint Rock Falls. But it's gonna be so awesome having those two courses, two very different courses, beautiful and stunning, and they are all part of the Jack Nicholas courses. They are in the Lakeway area, so in-demand courses to be at. So also at the Hills is where we will have our banquet and dinner, and that area is we'll seek 350. So we have a lot of difference that we can grow. So that'd be huge. But the venue at Flint Rock was beautiful. We had lunch that day, everybody came in, had lunch, we lined up the cart, set everybody off. They came back in to a putting contest, and then after the putting contest, we did dinner in a beautiful banquet room that they had there. So it was perfect logistics for us at Flint Rock Falls this year.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty incredible, you know, that we get to grow so much, and I think the golfers are gonna be really excited about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I do too. I do too for sure.
SPEAKER_01So, who were some of the people that participated?
SPEAKER_00Well, I've mentioned, you know, that we had a full house, right? And I'm so grateful. Like I said, um, Jeff Jacoby, he's been a golfer forever, and he invited a lot of his family and friends that came in. I know his daughter flew in from Colorado, which is really cool. He had tremendous support of his family and friends, and they came in. I mentioned Ross Speed before, several businesses from around the Lakeway area provided teams. Here's what was really exciting for me. I've already mentioned that I've been doing this almost 20 years, and at this event, 90% of the people were new to get to know us as Rex Santa Foundation. They were new to hear about our mission and to hear about what we're trying to do. So I think that's really incredible that after all this time, we're still broadening our audience. We're still broadening people that can learn about the difference we make. So um, we also had four of the doctors, researchers from MD Anderson join us and they played golf, and that was a lot of fun to see them play in a different environment. I usually see them at the hospital, you know, and so that was a lot of fun to see them. And um, they also, um, Dr. John Haymack and Dr. Don Gibbons were there for the evening to speak at the banquet. And I think that's where we got so much feedback because many people left really understanding. They said, wow, the information, the context the doctors provided was unbelievable. They truly understood what we were trying to do and what our purpose was. So it's a great day overall, and a lot of smiles on the participants' faces.
SPEAKER_01Really good. Well, I know we kind of talked about what the day looked like. Um, what about you want to share just briefly about our every swing for a story sign? Because that was kind of a way that we were, you know, getting our golfers to find out a little bit more about what was kind of at the heart of the foundation.
SPEAKER_00Um I'm so glad you brought that up because what we did is we had signage, and the theme was every swing has a story. So on each of the golf holes, as people were teeing off, there was signage of different patients from all over that we support in their journey. What can that support look like? It may mean that we help them navigate a second opinion at MD Anderson. It could mean they receive our rally cards, where it's an amazing program through Sandy's Project Hope, and it's the Pat Hood Rally Card program. And that's where we have these angel volunteers that adopt a patient and once a week write them an old school snail mail card just to encourage them and to be positive, you know. Um, but these stories were because uh one, they were so impactful, but I want you guys to know part of the mission of Rexana's foundation is to love and support and encourage patients through their cancer journey. And it could be any form of cancer. And so every sign represented from we had Pete Wilson, who was on a sign, and Pete is in Georgia and he's battling lung cancer. He comes to MD Anderson, uh Fran Sanders was on a sign, another lung cancer patient. Um, Fran lives in South Carolina, but she is also being monitored by MD Anderson. We had a sign from Matt Vanachek, which is awesome. Matthew's story is so amazing. He had an aggressive sarcoma tumor, and uh Matthew was represented on one of the signage. There were so many patients, but it was an opportunity for us. Remember, we had two foursoms at every hole for the golfers to read about the patient. So patients gave us photos, they gave us their favorite quotes, they gave us maybe lines about themselves, but um, it was really special. I'm hoping when we add the extra holes for the heels, that we have all the holes covered with signs celebrating patients out there and telling about their lives because you guys, patients are so much more than their diagnosis. And usually every day they're having to navigate their diagnosis, and all they are is about the appointments and the calendarizations and what's happening next. And yet we can share a window of the other parts of their life that are so critical. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Well, what about is there the funniest moment? Did you have a funny moment?
SPEAKER_00Well, there was so much joy and laughter throughout the day that it was great. But I have to tell you, for me, and I got a lot of feedback, a couple of our volunteers that were working our birdie hole. So it was Letha and Megan. And Letha and Megan were working the birdie hole, and they had a sound system out there with all of these signs, I mean, all of these songs about birds, and it was like so funny. And then they had the coolest hats that they could click buttons, and they were bird hats. And so I think everybody had a lot of fun at that hole. Uh, they were super enthusiastic, and that's just an example of our volunteers. They rocked it. They came, our volunteers had themes for each hole. We had the sunshine theme of the MD Anderson hole where they gave out sunscreen. We had, you know, the birdie hole that I was talking about. We had the hole in one. I mean, there was just a lot of fun. I know Kelly Carr and her team had on hats that had a pudding green on them. It was so fun. So I think those were the funny things that really made me smile to see our volunteers, after all the hard work, have a great time on the course with all the golfers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really good. I mean, at the hole in one um hole, they were they had money because we did have a contest. If anyone won got a hole in one, they got $10,000. So they had their money ready to throw out. It was just a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's great. And that's a couple of more things about the tournament. You know, we had two par threes where if you made a hole in one, you could get $10,000 cash. So that made it a great experience, too. So I think that was a lot of fun. Did you have a funny thing that happened while you were during the day?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I think the volunteers, it would probably be the same. I did have a golfer that um he did a um complete uh Adam Sandler get up from Happy Gilmore, a running swing. So that was pretty fun to watch him, you know, dive into that.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. We had a team, the Venechics from San Antonio that had the Happy Gilmore shirts on. They were so fun. That was great. And we had another team that had golf outfits, the bright yellow shirts and socks. And um, so I think it was really fun how our golfers got into the fun of the day and the themes. And then we had another golf team that they named their golfers um nicknames. So it was great fun for everybody. I've mentioned a few times, you know, that we just couldn't do an event like this without our volunteers. And I'm gonna just give a quick shout-out, and Lindsay, if you get your list ready, but I do want to mention these people Savannah Chaffant, Amber Hood, Nanette Spain. Nanette was in charge of all of our decorations and knocked it out of the park. Kowie AG, um, Courtney Pistol, Letha Dwaren, Megan Dwyeran, um, Madeline Cottrell, Sandy Newman, Martha Fisher, Kendra Coleman. You've got some too, Lynn's?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Linda Sandlin, Sherry Ellen Bogan, Kathy Joe, Lisa Speed, Kara Hart, Kelly Carr, Helen Montesinos, Lee, Leslie Dawkins, Rex Spain, Stephanie Krueger, Ruin Claybrook, Sherry Harmon, Sarah Valentine, Greg and Peggy Hinneke. They were all amazing and the day couldn't have run as smoothly without them for sure.
SPEAKER_00There's no way, no way. That's one thing that we did learn is that it takes a lot of voluntary. Volunteers the day of the event. So if there's anybody out there that wants to be a part of this in 27, we can sure put you to work because you want to make something like this truly amazing for our patients, our guests, and all of the special people that participate.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I know everybody, this is the big question. How much money was raised at the first ever car and Jacoby Classic?
SPEAKER_00Yes, drumroll, please. Super excited. But we raised $83,432.51. It was unbelievable. We shattered our goal. We actually, everybody was worried when I said, let's set a goal of just $50,000 in our first year. And we just blew that out of the water. And again, it was from all the hard work of our volunteers, our board, and um the car family, the Jacoby family, everybody pitched in. So all the sponsors pretty amazing. The sponsors that came through. And I'm hoping that we'll have even more because we'll have more time. You know, we put this one together in a short amount of time. So when you think about it, we have a whole year to plan. I think it'll really be a bigger event.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Is there a specific impact of the money donating or oh, thank you for asking?
SPEAKER_00Yes, what we do is all of our funds that we raise go directly to support lung cancer research. And I am excited to say at the banquet that night after the golf tournament, we gave out $665,000 in research grants. Some of these grants cover research that's focused on brain mats for stage four cancer patients, which are huge. That's really a real problem for our lung cancer patients, but it also impacts other cancers. We funded some AI projects that's really coming along. And MD Anderson, along with MIT, have some of the most amazing leaders in the AI technology. So there were several projects we funded that night, but it was $665,000. All of that money goes to the University of Texas MD Anderson Thoracic Center. They're designated four specific grants that they had to apply for. And um we have updates from them. We get proposals, but we also get to see the labs. We know these doctors personally because I've been working with MD Anderson for so long. So super exciting night for us to be able to deliver that. That was the largest grant funding at one time we've given. And we're just in April. So we are planning on exceeding a million dollars in gifting of our research grants before the end of the year. And we are gonna be announcing the next ones at our September event in Houston.
SPEAKER_01It's pretty amazing hitting a million dollars in a year. It's exciting.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know, it's like scary. I remember back, it was like 2012, we did our first official pledge. We had been giving money for research glance, but in our first official pledge, it was Sarah Valentine and I, and we were having to sign the pledge form, and we were pledging $500,000 over five years, $500,000 over five years, and Sarah and I were crying signing the form. One, we were so proud to be doing it, but it was also nerve-wracking saying you were committing that kind of money. And now I'm publicly saying my goal is to hit a million in one year. That's that is amazing. But that's because of generosity of people, and I will tell you, every dollar counts. We have gifts that our median range of gift has been $100, so it's really cool.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Well, I know we talked a little bit about sponsors and donors, and you know, the money raise couldn't have been without all of those. Do you want to share some of the sponsors and donors we had for this event?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. And you can help me out as well. We had the shower doors of Texas, uh, we're appreciative of them, high school essentials. We had um John and Sarah, Jacoby, Cooper Bud, and the Cooper Bud family for the Tamara Hissum Bud grant, um, the University of Texas MD Anderson gift. We had an anonymous gift as well. So um they were all essential in helping us. We are looking for a title sponsor for 27. So hopefully we'll get a title sponsor next year.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. A few other sponsors we had. We had the Thriving Life Clinic, we had Exodus Financial Planning, Alan Hill Associates, Bad Company, Chris Dregetz, David Cottrell, Graham Gilmore, the Myers Family, Austin Tidal, Harry's Body Shop, R Bank, Taylor, and McCaughlin, and Josh Peelin. And I know there still were some more major tournament donors that came in at the end and after. So I mean, really, there was even more than that that you know to thank and recognize.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, again, and you can't do the level of events and the things that we provide without sponsorships. It's just not possible. So we're so grateful. Well, Lindsay, in each of our Hope Forward podcasts, we kind of have a cadence. We do a three-to-one, we do three facts or information to consider, we do two perspectives, opinions, and then we have one action item. Today I'm just gonna kind of since it's not the normal podcast, if this one's a little bit different. I want us to kind of just have fun with this. So we're gonna use this as our speed round to end our podcast today. Okay. Right.
SPEAKER_01Well, name three facts about the day.
SPEAKER_00Three facts about the day. Okay, I would say it was a sellout crowd, so you need to sign up quick for 27. It was a day of making a difference. At the dinner, we had over 215 people join us to learn more about what we were doing, and those 200 people participated, leaned in. It was so amazing. And then the third fact is we wanted everybody to know if you have lungs and if you breathe, you can get lung cancer. One of the fastest growing population is never smokers, and Kelly Carr and Jeff Jacoby both are never smokers, and they have lung cancer. So, Lindsay, what would be three words you would use to describe the day?
SPEAKER_01I would say fun, inspiring, and hopeful.
SPEAKER_00Oh, perfect. Uh, those are great words for it, too. So, next was our perspective. So, I was just gonna give uh a couple of feedback we've gotten. Leslie, one of our volunteers, emailed us immediately and said, Man, excellent job on the golf tournament. And we got lots of great feedback on our end as they were working the whole. We got also an email from Ron. He said, What a great event yesterday. You, Ross, the rest of the volunteers and the staff did a phenomenal job. I posted photos last night on Facebook, and I'm certain from my friend group, we will have at least one more team, if not two more next year. So, Ron, we're hoping you're bringing lots of teams next year. We cannot wait.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. And Lisa, what would be your one action item?
SPEAKER_00My one action item would be join us, join us next year, April 5th, 2027, will be the event. But you know what? We each one have to reach one. That's how we grow these things. So I need everybody to talk about the event, share about the event, and make sure others know. What would be your action item, Lindsay?
SPEAKER_01Reach out to me if you want to participate, be involved. I work directly with the volunteers. We'd love you have to be a part of it. So reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00That's perfect. Well, there's so many ways that people can be involved. Get a team, register. We had individuals that register too. We'll put you on a team if you do not have a team of four underwriters, sponsors. I can't say enough of how important that is. And we have levels as low as $500 for our community sponsors. We have swag bags that you can put items in, lots of opportunity. You definitely do not want to miss the second annual Car Jacoby Tournament, April 5th. So, you guys, thanks so much for joining me today. And Lindsay, thanks big for joining me. Your impact with Rexena's Foundation is truly immeasurable. And the collaboration today on the podcast made it great fun for me. You guys out there, this just isn't a podcast. We're creating a community, a community of folks that are truly dedicated to impacting others. It's a community of learning where we can all find out how to navigate a cancer diagnosis, about finding ways where we can celebrate love and support one another throughout the journey. In the show notes, there's a link to contact us, and you can use that link and comment the word golf to request more information. If you're on YouTube, please leave a comment and subscribe. If you're listening on the audio, rate the podcast. All of this really helps our podcast and helps our community grow. And so until next time, everybody, lean in, capture all those moments that make you smile, really embrace the day, and remember the good news in our conversation today. Day by day, every one of us can take action that makes a difference for others. And you guys, our golf tournament did that. This is definitely an example of hope forward.