Pro Golfer Fred Couples Donates $20,000 to California Firefighters Endowment

Professional golfer Fred Couples is used to receiving golf hats from friends and sponsors.

But at a press conference in San Francisco's Harding Park for the Champions Cup Wednesday afternoon, Couples received a different kind of hat: a helmet from firefighters throughout California.

In 2009, Couples donated $20,000 of his President's Cup winnings to the California Fire Foundation. Couples' schedule had prevented an opportunity for the Foundation to thank him in person until he returned to the Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco on Wednesday for the 2010 Champion's Cup.

At the press conference, he explained that he watched as firefighters fought the fire storms that broke out near his Santa Barbara home for three years in a row and it looked like a war zone. He commented that before that experience, he knew what firefighters did, but was impressed by the extent of it after that and wanted to do whatever he could to give back.

His gift did not go unnoticed. The California Fire Foundation is the statewide nonprofit in California responsible for building and maintaining the California Firefighters Memorial. It also works closely with local firefighters to provide assistance and support to the surviving family when a line-of-duty death occurs.

"This donation makes you a founding member of our Endowment," said California Fire Foundation Secretary-Treasurer Lew Stone. "Your support will go to providing scholarships to children of firefighters in California. Thank you for going beyond yourself and giving to this cause. It means the world to us."

Stone then presented Couples with a fire helmet from the Foundation. Several firefighters from the audience then came forward and thanked Couples personally.

The California Fire Foundation started the California Firefighters Endowment in 2009 when it saw the need to provide funding beyond the $2,000 scholarships it currently gives to children of firefighters killed in the line of duty.

Fred Couples with some California firefighters at the press conference

"The cost of college in California is increasing at a rapid rate," said California Fire Foundation Chair Lou Paulson. "This endowment will help us increase the amount of money we give in our scholarship program so that families can achieve the same dreams they had for their children before they suffered a loss."

In fact, Heather Yonan, a scholarship recipient whose father died in the line of duty in 1999, stated, "It almost feels like this scholarship was handed to me through my father's hands." She plans to use her scholarship to become a school teacher and write a children's book about dealing with the loss of a parent at a young age.

In 2011, the California Fire Foundation will be launching a public campaign to increase awareness of the California Firefighters Endowment. "Our goal is to get as many people to rally around this cause as soon as possible so that we significantly increase the amount of scholarship money we award," said California Fire Foundation Director Vanessa Errecarte.

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