The Rainbow RGV Community Partners would like to thank HEB Tournament of Champions for their tremendous donation. Those funds were used to “soften” the look of the CPS visitation rooms. Before HEB TOC came into the picture, these rooms were furnished with an office desk, a few chairs and white walls. Now these rooms have rocking chairs, desks, cribs, televisions and a variety of books. Each room also sports a different theme. These additions have made the rooms more inviting and help to provide comfort in what can be a stressful situation for families. The HEB team included Linda Tovar and local employees who came into the visitation rooms and assembled furniture and decorated rooms.
The H-E-B Tournament of Champions was established in 1986 when Decker Food Company asked H-E-B Grocery Co. to invite a few of their market vendors to play in a golf tournament and donate the proceeds to Special Olympics Texas. The President of Decker Foods was the Chairman of the Board for Special Olympics Texas at that time. The event raised $38,500 and the proceeds made it possible to hire a Special Olympics Texas Games Coordinator for Area 20 which included San Antonio. Chuck Hendryx (H-E-B V.P.) and Kathy Ashwin (Asst.) organized the event in six weeks and concluded, if they had a year to plan the event, more money would be raised. The following year the event raised $78,000 and in 2014 $7.9 million – a new record!
Over the past 29 years, this event has raised over $72 million dollars benefiting Special Olympics Texas and other worthwhile organizations that focus on children, youth and education throughout the State of Texas.
In 2003 the H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust was established and the event became a 501(c)3 tax exempt private foundation under the Internal Revenue codes.