The Ginn Company Sponsors Dakoda Dowds’ Dream

When the LPGA’s inaugural Ginn Club and Resorts Open is played next week, Dakoda Dowd will be there making her mother’s dream come true. Dakoda’s mother, Kelly Jo, diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, said her dream was to one day see Dakoda play on the LPGA tour. Her dream will come true because of one man’s incredible kindness. That man is Bobbie Ginn.

Several weeks after the story of Kelly Jo's fight was first published, a copy somehow made its way to Bobby Ginn. At his headquarters in Celebration, Florida, Ginn said right then he knew he wanted to make Kelly Jo’s dream come true!  Ginn determined that Dakoda should compete against the best LPGA players in the world and that her mother deserved to see it! Ginn commented, “sometimes you hear stories and there is nothing you can do”- but this time Ginn knew he was in a position to make a difference in one family’s life, and make a difference, he did!

Only three weeks after turning 13, Dakoda will play against Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis.  The Palm Harbor junior golfer will participate in a tournament at Reunion Resort and Club in Celebration on a “sponsor's exemption,” one of two open invitations granted to the tournament's corporate host.

Dakoda knows what receiving this gift from the Ginn Company means to her mother, and her appreciation goes far beyond what most young women can comprehend.  When Dakoda learned of the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, she contacted Fran Hansen, Co-founder of the organization and invited her to attend Media Day leading up to the LPGA tour. There, Dakoda gifted the Making Memories Foundation with $1,000 to help grant a wish for another woman – reaching out to help another family going through the same struggle at the same time as hers. “Dakoda’s kindness and generosity truly will make a difference” explained Hansen, whose foundation has helped make wishes and dreams come true for terminal breast cancer patients across the nation.  Dakoda’s wish is to help make many more dreams come true in the coming years in honor of her mother.

Michael Dowd, Dakoda’s dad, a Pinellas County school system counselor, and her mom, Kelly Jo, have always stressed to Dakoda that she possessed talent and ability to be anything she wanted in life. Dakoda wants to make a difference.  She already has.