MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The "We (heart) St. Jude" banner hanging from the house just off the 18th hole at TPC Southwind has become synonymous with golf in Memphis.
Like the World Golf Championship, it is still here.
Dan and Shirley Mullally, owners of the nearly 8,000 square-foot home, have raised over $1 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital since they began hosting spectators during tournament week in 2009.
While the party will not go on this year, the Mullally's are still inviting their usual guests to donate to St. Jude.
"We did give them a link to a St. Jude landing site where they could donate if they feel like it, understanding that this is a difficult time for everybody," Dan said.
Typically their home is filled with not only donors, but St. Jude patients and their families. This week, things are quiet.
"To understand where we are today," Dan said of the current state of the pandemic. "It's kind of depressing."
Their fundraising efforts are much less formal this year. There are no set goals in mind, or milestones to reach. The Mullally's simply hope to create something positive, after a year of so much negativity.
"We are in a pandemic, we are in COVID. We can think of negative things all day long," Dan said. "But children still have cancer. Children are still sick. Children still have to go to hospitals, and we still want to follow Danny Thomas, and not see a young child lose his life to cancer."