'Blessings in a Backpack' debuts in Chicago

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Badz/PGA TOUR

Mark Wilson was thrilled to be a part of the launch of "Blessings in a Backpack" in the Chicago area.

Sep. 10, 2009
By Laury Livsey, PGA TOUR Staff

As a teenager in Wisconsin, Mark Wilson would come home from school and head straight to the refrigerator in his home near Milwaukee. "I would be hungry, so that's where I went. And we had an abundance of food in the pantry. Still, I would always complain to my mom that there was nothing to eat. Or at least nothing I wanted to eat."

The PGA TOUR player's perspective has changed somewhat since his high school years now that he's a major proponent of Blessings in a Backpack.

"A lot of kids don't have the same luxury that I had growing up. A lot of kids go hungry," he adds.

Tuesday at University of Illinois at Chicago College Prep, a high school in downtown Chicago, Wilson and his wife, Amy, took the message of Blessings in a Backpack to the students inside.

While introducing the program, which provides underprivileged students with backpacks full of food to eat on the weekends, Wilson gave some basic golf lessons and allowed the students to hit balls into a golf simulator. The Wilsons then answered questions about Blessings in a Backpack and how the program will benefit Chicago-area students.

"It was fun to introduce the program. It was a good day. They have some great kids there, and we want to make sure they have full stomachs, which we believe will help them learn," Wilson says.

Wilson has consistently downplayed his family's involvement in the implementation of this program at UIC College Prep, but Stan Curtis, the founder of Blessings in a Backpack, does his best to make sure people understand the Wilsons' contribution.

"Thank God for Amy and Mark Wilson. They wrote a very large check personally to make this happen in Chicago, and Amy has been very influential in getting this going in Phoenix and Hawaii," Curtis says.

What Curtis is alluding to is Amy's role as president of the PGA TOUR Wives Association. Because of the involvement of the Association, the Sony Open in Hawaii in Honolulu and the FBR Open in suburban Phoenix, early season PGA TOUR events, have adopted Blessings in a Backpack as a charitable initiative.

People in Chicago need to know their people are hurting, and it only costs $80 a year to feed a child," says Curtis. "We want to give them some nutrition and give them an opportunity to learn something. It's so within reach."