The sixth annual Great Futures Celebrity Polo Charity Cup & Brunch, benefiting the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club of Wellington, took place Sunday, March 10, raising more than $215,000 for club programming. Co-chairs were Marc and Melissa Ganzi, as well as Olexa Celine.
Grand Champions Polo Club was the host of the morning’s celebrity polo match featuring honorary event chairs Nacho Figueras, polo’s international ambassador and the face of Ralph Lauren, and America’s Most Wanted/The Hunt TV host and child advocate John Walsh.
“It is always fun when you can play polo and do something for kids,” Figueras said.
“This is a great group of people coming together to help the Boys & Girls Club, the lifeline for many of these kids,” Walsh added.
Other polo pros and patrons who participated in the three-team, round-robin tournament were Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Juan Bollini, Santos Bollini, Tom Coid, Joe DiMenna, Riley Ganzi, Dawn Jones, Inaki Laprida, Magoo Laprida, Pablo Mac Donough and Sarah Magness. The Equuleus team featuring DiMenna, Coid, Inaki Laprida and Magoo Laprida won the polo match.
The celebrity match was followed by a brunch at the International Polo Club’s Mallet Grille. Nearly 200 guests had an opportunity to participate in a dynamic live auction. Wellington Youth of the Year Janayah Strachan shared with the crowd her experiences in an impressively eloquent speech. After brunch, guests enjoyed the 3 p.m. polo match.
Sponsors are an integral part of the celebration, and some of this year’s sponsors included: Sebilion Farm and Olexa Celine, Grand Champions Polo Club, Joe and Diana DiMenna and the Equuleus Polo Team, Neil S. Hirsch and Dr. Laura DeLuca, the Evelyn V. McPherson Foundation, Linsey and Jeff Desich, Digital Bridge Holdings LLC, Marc and Melissa Ganzi, BMO Wealth Management, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital at Memorial, Steven N. Rappaport and Judith A. Garson, PNC Wealth Management, Waste Management, the Zenni Foundation, Starbucks in the Mall at Wellington Green, PoloGear, Laz Parking and Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, call (561) 683-3287 or visit www.bgcpbc.org.
