Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Tiger Woods' caddie gives $1 million to
New Zealand child cancer ward

We would all like to be able to donate $1 million dollars to charity but don't have that kind of money to spare.
But Tiger Woods' caddie has - and he has just chipped in $1million of his own money to help rebuild a child cancer ward .
New Zealander Steve Williams, Tiger Woods' caddie since 1999, handed over a $1 million cheque to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland this week.
He has witnessed at closer quarters than anyone his boss's meteoric rise in world golf.
He told "The Dominion Post": "I've been very fortunate to have an exceptional life .... but nothing will compare to the feeling of being able to help and possibly save some lives."
Williams said his cut of Woods' earnings had contributed but he and wife Kirsty had worked hard to raise the donation they pledged a year ago.
Becoming a father two years ago had changed his perspective.
"You realise as parents how fortunate you are. Everybody knows somebody who's been hit by cancer."
Woods won more than US$12.65 million in prize money last year and Williams is believed to earn up to 10 per cent of his total prize money.
Part of the $1 million was raised by auctioning items donated by Woods.
"He is so excited for us and he knows we worked hard and he's helped us."
Williams said his visit to Starship's cancer ward last year had had a profound effect.
"It was a day that will stand out in my mind forever. In a sense it's a sad thing to realise that an oncology unit needs to be expanded because of the number of children getting cancer."
The money was donated by the Steve Williams Foundation, better known for its support of junior golf in New Zealand, and will go toward a $5.5 million rebuild of Starship's cancer ward, due to begin next month.
The ward treats nearly 70 per cent of New Zealand's child cancer patients.
Starship Foundation chief executive Andrew Young said it was the first million-dollar donation by an individual New Zealander. "We're still completely blown away by this."
Steve Williams is not top of the pops with a lot of golf writers. But with this one single act he has gone up in most people's estimation.

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