Morgan Pressel stood on the stage at the Kia Performance Awards at the CME Group Tour Championship with tears welling up in her eyes as she talked about the community – her St. Andrews Country Club family – that has helped her give the ultimate assist in fighting the cancer that took her mother away from her at 15. Pressel was there to accept the Kia Community Assist Award – and keys to her new Kia K900 luxury sedan – given to the LPGA player who made the biggest positive impact on the community in 2014. Although the award was given to her, it really was about everybody else. In her acceptance speech, she proved why her cause – the Morgan Pressel Foundation – has been such a success over the years, rattling off a list of everyone that was responsible for the award except herself.
In her eyes, that luxury sedan wasn’t meant for her either. Instead, she decided to donate the vehicle back to the very hospital – Boca Raton Regional – that her foundation serves. In all, Pressel’s Foundation has raised over $3.4 million to fight cancer.
“Once again, Boca Raton Regional Hospital and the patients we serve are the beneficiaries of Morgan Pressel and her foundation’s largesse,” said Jan Savarick, President of the Hospital’s Foundation. “As she did with the Kathryn Krickstein Pressel Mammovan and the Morgan Pressel Center for Cancer Genetics, her latest gift again enhances our capabilities and services in a most meaningful way. We thank her and Kia Motors Worldwide for making this possible.”
According to hospital officials, Pressel’s donation will add to the effectiveness in which Boca Regional’s laboratory services meet the needs of patients undergoing chemotherapy or being treated for various blood disorders. The vehicle will also enhance transportation needs for patients undergoing chemotherapy.
“Through Morgan’s generosity, we have broadened our abilities to transport vital lab materials to these patients and to collect important tests that have been collected across our enterprise,” said Karen Poole, Chief Operating Officer at Boca Raton Regional. “As evidenced in all her contributions to us, Morgan and her Foundation make a material difference in our patients’ lives.”
Already to start 2015, Pressel’s annual charity golf tournament – Morgan and Friends Fight Cancer – in the beginning of January raised in excess of $700,000. That mark set a record in the eighth year of the annual event.)
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