The 7th annual Hayden Hurst Family Foundation Charity Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, Feb. 23, at the Marsh Landing Country Club. The tournament will begin at 8:30 a.m.
The Hayden Hurst Family Foundation raises money to assist youth and military members with their mental health.
In 2012, Hayden Hurst was drafted out of The Bolles School by the Pittsburgh Pirates. After a few years, Hurst decided to try his hand at football and walked on at the University of South Carolina in the summer of 2015.
After leaving high school, Hurst struggled with depression and in 2015 he attempted to take his own life. Hurst had already lost family members to suicide and after he tried and failed to take his life, he decided he wanted to make a difference in the mental health arena.
In 2018, Hurst was selected in the first-round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He immediately asked his parents to retire to help him run a foundation for suicide prevention.
Hurst’s foundation works with different organizations that help with mental health such as K9s for Veterans and the Youth Crisis Center (YCC).
The primary benefactor of the annual charity golf tournament is the YCC in Jacksonville. To date the tournament has allowed the Hurst Family Foundation to provide close to $400,000 to the YCC.
The tournament annually recognizes a person lost to suicide with connections to the local community. This year’s tournament recognizes Patrick Heinold, who was a 17-year-old Bolles School junior and basketball player who died by suicide in February of 2017.
Hurst’s mother Cathy sits on the board at the YCC and said the work that the Hurst Family Foundation does is essential in today’s world.
“We are very dedicated to changing the stigma surrounding mental health,” she said.
For more information on the tournament or the Hayden Hurst Family Foundation go to haydenhurstfoundation.com.
