Bay Hill residents gear up to host Team Gamez Chipping for Children event

When someone has invested in helping you succeed, it’s only natural to want to give that same effort and support back to others.

In pro golfer Robert Gamez’s case, the support he received from his family growing up didn’t just mold him into a great athlete — it also molded his heart.

Robert Gamez and his wife, Denise Gamez, run the Team Gamez Foundation together. Through the foundation, the couple supports local charities near and dear to their hearts. For the Bay Hill residents, helping children in need both locally and around the nation is at the forefront of their mission.

Every year, the Team Gamez Foundation hosts the Chipping for Children event, which brings together the golfing greats, top performers from the entertainment industry, Hall of Fame athletes and Team Gamez Foundation supporters for a weekend of golf and fundraising.

This year marks the 10th annual Team Gamez Foundation Chipping for Children Celebrity/Pro-Am Tournament, which takes place Oct. 28 at Orange Tree Golf Club. Attendees will enjoy breakfast before the shotgun start, followed by a morning on the course with lunch and awards after golfing. The night before, attendees are invited to The Big Show, where they’ll hear some of the best entertainers in the music industry, all of whom donate their time and talents to be there.

No matter how many years the Gamezes have hosted the event, though, the desire to help better children’s lives never fades. 

GIVING SPIRIT

The Team Gamez Foundation began with Robert Gamez’s pro career in the early ‘90s, when he got involved with the Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas, where he’s from.

“It’s just something I started with the Ronald McDonald House charity back in the day,” he said. “I did St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Vegas — they took in kids that were abused by the parents and neglected and they lived there. I got involved with them and saw some great things coming out of them, out of what they were doing.”

Although there were some years where the Team Gamez Foundation didn’t host an event, Robert Gamez estimates this is his 25th event, and it’s the 10th that he and Denise Gamez have put on together. 

The Team Gamez Foundation has undergone some name changes through the years, but after the Gamezes got married, they changed the foundation’s name to Team Gamez in order to reflect the village of support they have behind them and their mission.

“We had a bunch of people behind us that were willing to help us because they donate their time, so we decided it’s more of a team than just me,” Robert Gamez said. “When I started, it was me and family. Now we’ve got such a great team behind (us) of volunteers and board members that donate their time.”

The Team Gamez Foundation mainly supports children’s charities in Central Florida, such as Give Kids The World Village and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida. This year, the chosen organization is Great Oaks Village — a residential foster group home for children ages 6 to 18-plus who have been removed from their homes by the state due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. 

Great Oaks Village is especially near and dear to Denise’s heart, because she herself was adopted when she was just four weeks old.

“When I see Great Oaks Village and these kids are either waiting to be adopted or put back with their birth family, they’re just waiting,” she said. “They might show up at midnight with two changes of clothes in a garbage bag. I want to help those kids that don’t have the outcome I had. Children don’t ask to be here, so if we don’t take care of our children, we’ve got problems.”

During the Chipping for Children weekend festivities, attendees enjoy four days of fundraising, golf and camaraderie. Denise and Robert Gamez gather their friends and family, as well as celebrities and pro athletes, to play golf and support a great cause — investing in the futures of children who need assistance. 

“There are so many children that have everything it takes to be successful except the launching pad,” Denise Gamez said. “They have all the talent, all the brains, all the drive and desire, but they don’t have that one little push that they need, the assistance that they need. Hopefully that’s where we can come in. These kids are amazingly resilient — they just need that extra support.”

SUPPORT SYSTEMS

In fact, it’s the care and support that Robert Gamez received from his family growing up and throughout his career that spurred him to give back to children who don’t have that support system.

“I just felt gifted that I had nothing to keep me from playing golf as a kid,” he said. “My parents gave up vacation time to take me to golf tournaments, whatever it was I was trying to do. They didn’t make a lot of money, but they gave up what they had to do for me to play golf. To see kids that don’t have that opportunity is why I started the foundation.”

The Gamezes’ friends and family chip in selflessly and donate their time and talents to further the mission of the Team Gamez Foundation, too. It takes a village, and they have an excellent one.

“We have amazing, generous friends who donate these really awesome experiences you can’t get anywhere else (for our auction),” Denise Gamez said. “I want our people to know that every dollar you spend in our auction goes directly to the kids.”

The Gamezes’ village also banded together a few years back when Robert Gamez suddenly had to undergo a quadruple bypass surgery, resulting in a 10-day hospital stay. 

Just as their friends do when it comes to the Team Gamez Foundation, they were in action and supporting the Gamezes every step of the way from hospitalization through recovery. And in a true testament to the Gamezes’ impact on local children, members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida brought them to tears when they sent over a box of 120 handmade get-well cards.

“That’s when you know you’re making a difference and it’s worth every minute and hour we spend,” Denise Gamez said.

As their 10th Chipping for Children event nears, the Gamezes are just happy to be making a difference and offering a support system of their own.

“We love what we’re doing and I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Robert Gamez said.