European Tour Professional and Genworth brand ambassador Pablo Larrazábal visited an SOS Children’s Village close to his home in Barcelona to see how monies donated by the Genworth Foundation through his charitable work have been spent.
Genworth, a longstanding partner of The European Tour, has staged Putts4Charity® in association with the Tour Players’ Foundation since 2007, raising donations through the Genworth Foundation for a range of charities across Europe. SOS Children’s Villages, which provide a loving home for orphaned and abandoned children, has been one of the main Putts4Charity® beneficiaries.
During the visit, and to the children’s delight, taught them the basics of golf and how to putt. With these new found golfing skills and with his help, the children made their own ‘one putts’, racking up a further donation from the Genworth Foundation which will specifically assist in developing their education.
“I had great fun giving the kids some golfing tuition,” said Larrazábal. “They helped me sink lots of ‘Putts4Charity’ one putts – may be they’re going to be golfing stars of the future! Between us we raised donations totalling €29,300. It was so good to meet these children – I’m pleased the monies donated through Putts4Charity are being used in such a positive way to create a caring and supportive home for them.”
Venetia Herriott, Genworth’s Brand, Sponsorship and Events leader, said: “It was an amazing experience visiting the village and meeting the kids that live there. They’ve had a really difficult start to life, but thanks to SOS, they can now grow up in a safe and secure environment with the advantage of receiving good schooling.
“The Genworth Foundation is absolutely delighted to support SOS Children’s Villages in this way – they’re providing a life changing service.”
Manuel J. Sánchez Hidalgo from SOS Children’s Village concluded: “We had a wonderful time with Pablo and our friends from Genworth – it’s not every day we have a local sporting hero visit us like this – the children had a wonderful time getting to know him and great fun learning a new sport. He was great with them.”
