About us

Message from the President

Dear Friends,

This year Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds (VLCF) celebrates its Fortieth Anniversary, an incredible milestone for our organization! As part of our year-long celebration, three of our events will mark significant anniversaries as well. VLCF was born in 1971 through our initial event, the Lombardi Golf Classic. And, as the Lombardi Classic celebrates its 40th Year, we also mark the 20th Anniversary of the Lombardi Award of Excellence Dinner Ball. Finally, our newest event, the Lombardi Ride to Daylight, will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year.

Through the four decades that have passed since the first Lombardi Golf Classic, traditions have been forged and our broad calendar of events has continued to evolve. While our base of events has expanded from that initial golf outing to our present format of five annual fundraising events, the mission, purpose and commitment of the Vince Lombardi Charitable Finds has remained constant: To raise money to defeat the scourge of cancer.

For forty years, through good economic times and bad, thousands of event volunteers, committee and board members have steadfastly worked to raise funds. And, throughout those same forty years, tens of thousands of event participants, sponsors, our Blocks of Granite and all of the friends of Lombardi have responded by supporting, in many ways, our efforts. The result of this forty year labor of love has been over $13 million dollars raised to support our mission. Those funds have been used for cancer research and for the treatment, education, support and care of our neighbors, friends and our family members who have all heard the words "You have cancer."

One other constant has been present throughout our forty year history: Bart and Cherry Starr. These two remarkable people have supported the mission of the Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds each and every year for forty years. Every year for forty years they have traveled to be present at our events. And, every year for forty years they have worked behind the scenes through phone calls, letters and personal relationships to bring national and international celebrities to our events in order to raise awareness, attendance, participation and, ultimately, to raise money for the mission of VLCF.

On behalf of the board of directors, our committee members and our hundreds of hard-working, wonderful volunteers, past and present, who each year donate their time, talents, energy and personal funds to our cause, we say Thank You. To everyone who attends and sponsors and donates to our cause, we say Thank You. And, to Bart and Cherry Starr, who have been as constant as the sun rising in the east, for forty years supporting our cause, we say Thank You. We are all stewards of The Mission. None of us could have done all of this without each of us.

Oh, and by the way, Welcome to the Next Forty Years! Though huge progress has been made in the last forty years in the fight against cancer, at VLCF we have only just begun to fight!

All the best,

John Schaller
President