Under clear Carolina blue skies, the 5th annual Tar Heels for SECU Family House BBQ and Golf Tournament had another successful year thanks to the generous support from the Chapel Hill and UNC community.  Co-hosted by UNC Athletics stars Bubba Cunningham, Larry Fedora, and Roy Williams, the event raised $145,577 to benefit SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. The net proceeds will total nearly $123,000.

The two-day combined event—a BBQ and auction Thursday evening, followed by a golf tournament at UNC’s Finley Golf Course on Friday—involved close to 400 guests, including sponsors, donors, golfers, volunteers, House guests and patients, as well as coaches from UNC.

View BBQ photos here.

The program began with a celebration of Family House’s fifth anniversary of serving seriously ill adult patients being treated at UNC Hospitals and their family members or caregivers. UNC play-by-play announcer Jones Angell emceed the event, which included remarks from Nelson Corbin, a special operations officer from Fayetteville, N.C., and former Family House guest. Corbin told his story of diagnosis with cancer and talked about his stay at Family House during his treatment. Cunningham, Fedora and Williams each answered questions posed by Angell before he opened the evening’s live auction.

In honor of the fifth anniversary of Family House, the event’s presenting sponsorship was a combined effort by current and former Family House Board of Directors members totaling $23,725. UNC Health Care was the event’s Platinum sponsor. The silent and live auctions together brought in $26,440 for the House; patrons of the BBQ contributed another $22,436 and enjoyed ribs and barbecue donated by the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group; and golfers contributed another $5,976. Sponsorships of $90,725 made up the bulk of the funds raised for the event. A full list of sponsors is available on the event website.

The highlight of the live auction was a bidding war over a beautiful, newly-painted Carolina Blue 2003 Volvo convertible, which sold with a final bid of $8,500 thanks to a custom paint job by Sport Durst Millennium Automotive Group. The event co-chairs Rebecca Dirksen and Courtney Toledo were assisted by Nicole Lake, Karen Ille, and Jennifer Roberts. Sally Austin and Ann Petersen co-chaired the highly successful golf tournament for the third year in a row.

Host Bubba Cunningham remarked on the importance of the event:

“The barbecue and golf outing is a fun way for the community to support the outstanding and much-needed work that is done at the SECU Family House,” Cunningham said. “The proceeds help families stay close to their loved ones who are receiving care at UNC Hospitals.”

Also at the event, Janice McAdams was announced as the new executive director of SECU Family House. McAdams has more than 16 years of fundraising experience at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill and will begin her official duties in June.