CSR Spotlight: Charlie’s Champs Charity Softball Tournament
Roux supported the first ever Charlie’s Champs Charity Softball tournament earlier this year. The tournament was held in Burbank, California at George Izay Park and was hosted by Senior Engineer Matthew Nelson and his family to raise money for the organization HeartWorks in honor of their young son, Charlie.
Charlie was born with a rare and severe form of congenital heart disease (CHD) called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), which essentially means he was born with half a heart. Charlie has undergone three open heart surgeries, countless medical procedures, hospital admissions, and treatments over the course of his five years of life. There is no cure for HLHS so Matthew and his wife, Alisa chose HeartWorks as their fundraising organization since they are leading major advances in research for a cure for CHD. Through their revolutionary platforms, HeartWorks, whose motto is “we build hearts,” taps into the best ideas and advances them through trials and therapies that give children and adults with CHD an opportunity to live fulfilling lives.
Roux was one of many generous sponsors/donors for the tournament and a number of employees volunteered to help out on the day of the event. Matthew and Alisa were thrilled when their initial fundraiser goal of $10,000 was more than tripled, reaching over $30,000 with the help of so many friends, family members, coworkers, and others in their community. “It was truly incredible to witness” says Alisa, “being that it was our first time ever doing something like this, we really had no idea what to expect, but the day far exceeded our hopes and wishes.”
Twenty-nine games were played by fourteen softball teams and 180 players over the course of the beautiful Saturday, where the sun was shining bright in an otherwise very rain filled week, “it was like Christmas!” There were hundreds of people there that day, many playing, many watching and cheering on, and a number of volunteers. The Nelsons are planning on making this an annual event.
