Silver Cross Charity Golf and Pickleball Classic draws strong demand for June event

Silver Cross is leaning hard into the sport that has turned charity golf into something bigger. The hospital foundation says its 35th annual Charity Golf & Pickleball Classic already has golf foursomes nearing capacity, with pickleball pairs and underwriting sponsorships drawing strong demand for the June 22 event at Crystal Tree Golf & Country Club in Orland Park.

That matters because the fundraiser is no longer just about filling a tee sheet. The day is built around golf, pickleball, contests, raffles, breakfast, lunch, and an evening reception and dinner, a format that shows how quickly pickleball has become valuable enough to sit beside a 35-year legacy event. The proceeds will support Silver Cross Hospital’s OR of the Future, which the foundation describes as an innovative surgical environment designed to improve safety and healing through advanced technology and better-designed spaces.

Silver Cross Foundation executive director Tracy Simons has pointed to pickleball’s appeal as one of the clearest signs that the event has broadened its reach. The sport has become one of the most popular and inclusive ways to take part, and at Silver Cross it is now doing real fundraising work, not just providing an extra activity for guests who do not want a full round of golf.

The structure around the event reinforces that shift. The 2026 classic is presented by Superior Air-Ground Ambulance Service, and the evening will include the presentation of the Corporate Citizen Award to J.L. Adler Roofing & Sheet Metal. Hole-in-one prizes, including a new automobile or $10,000 cash, remain part of the draw, but the bigger signal is how the hospital is using pickleball to widen participation and deepen donor engagement around a medical capital project.

The pickleball piece is still relatively new, but it has already changed the event’s identity. Silver Cross added pickleball to the annual golf classic in 2024, when the day welcomed more than 300 people and later raised a record $337,000 for patient care. In 2025, the event was branded as the 34th Annual Silver Cross Charity Golf Classic and 2025 Pickleball Championship. By the time the 2026 version arrives in Orland Park, the message is clear: pickleball has moved from novelty to reliable fundraising engine, and Silver Cross is treating it that way.

Registration materials list Kelly Baltas, the hospital foundation’s Corporate Giving & Events Coordinator, as the contact for participation and sponsorships. Limited spots usually tell the real story, and here the demand is already speaking for itself.