Letter To The Editor: Golfing For Gabi

We recently completed two weeks of basketball camp. Severna Park High School (SPHS) head boys basketball coach Pete Young graciously invites me to be the co-director of the boys basketball camp we started together 22 years ago in the old high school gym. The record number of talented players ages 8 through entering grade nine at camp this summer was staggering. Boys basketball at Severna Park is surging and gaining momentum with each passing year. It was especially rewarding regarding the number of former players I coached and former students I taught who had sons at camp this year.

The Severna Park community is truly special, and this is seen so many times every year.

A tremendous example of this has been the overwhelming support the Severna Park community has shown of hole No. 5 since 2019. First, a brief background.

Gabi’s Story

On October 16, 2018, 5-year-old Gabriella Pellicani lost her 10-month battle to glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer. Gabi was treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from April to June 2018 as part of an experimental clinical trial that focused on a particular genetic mutation found in her tumor. While in Boston, Gabi was in the hands of some of the country’s best doctors and most caring nurses, and she was embraced by an entire community devoted to supporting pediatric cancer patients and finding cures for diseases like Gabi’s.

Hole No. 5 is an unofficial way to sponsor Golfing For Gabi. Hole No. 5 has become an amazing outlet for individuals and local businesses who want to support the important work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute but cannot make it to Long Island for the annual Golfing For Gabi tournament, this year held on August 4. These contributors have made donations specifically to hole No. 5, exceeding $65,000 since the event’s inception in 2019.

A few thoughts are at the forefront behind hole No. 5.

1. Hole No. 5 is a short par 3 that runs alongside the pool at Rockville Links in Rockville Center, New York, and with her mother’s encouragement, Gabi would wait inside the pool fence to see her dad, Nick Pellicani, an SPHS graduate, play hole No. 5.
2. Gabi lost her 10-month battle to glioblastoma at the age of 5.
3. Many people giving a little can add up to a great deal. Imagine if every family who had a son at basketball camp this year donated $5, $10, $25 or even more. Imagine if even half of the hundreds of players we have coached at SPHS since 1992 or the thousands of students I taught over the many years at SPHS made a small donation. We have seen that many people giving a little does add up to a significant number.
4. The ultimate goal of Nick and Fabianna, Gabi’s parents, is for a day no other family will have to hear and experience this unimaginable news.

So, it seemed like a natural conclusion that hole No. 5 would be an ongoing unofficial sponsor of Golfing For Gabi. The first year when my wife and I arrived at the first Golfing For Gabi tournament, the emotion was overwhelming when we saw the hole sponsorship sign on that par 3 that said, “This hole is sponsored by the community of Severna Park, Maryland.” We had no idea that people in Severna Park had done this unbelievable act.

Thank you to all those individuals who have supported hole No. 5 in the past. There are far too many to list, but your kindness is unforgettable.

Thank you to the Severna Park businesses that have been such generous supporters of Golfing For Gabi, knowing that it is highly unlikely that they will immediately garner business from the event on Long Island. Please support Adam’s Taphouse and Grille, The Cottage, Victory Awards, and Your Preppy Present. Thank you!

All donations to support hole No. 5 can be made by either check (made out to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) or Venmo (@golfing4gabi). If you mail a check, please send it to the following: Nick Pellicani, 132 Hempstead Avenue, Rockville Center, NY 11570. Hole #5 should be in the memo line.

All proceeds for hole No. 5 go directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Tax exempt #04-2263040

If you want to learn more, go to www.golfingforgabi.com.

Paul Pellicani
Resident of Severna Park and South Carolina