Roughly 180 golfers from across the Kansas City metro gathered at Oakwood Country Club on Monday for the Fore the Kids tournament, an annual fundraiser that has pumped more than $11 million into pediatric mental health care over 29 years. The event benefits the Fore the Kids Foundation, which funds mental health resources at Children's Mercy, The Children's Place and KidsTLC.
The tournament's origins trace back to tragedy. Fore the Kids founder Kevin Timmons shifted the foundation's focus to mental health after his son Nick died by suicide in 2017, according to FOX4KC. Nick Timmons, a 2013 graduate of Blue Valley, was 22 when he died, and the loss led the foundation to establish the Nick's Voice Fund, which initially financed 19 Children's Mercy social workers placed directly inside Blue Valley School District buildings, according to Flatland KC.
Over two decades of operation, the foundation has helped fund more than 15 projects across the region, per the same FOX4KC report. One of its significant investments is Camber Health's operating 72-bed inpatient pediatric joint-venture hospital in Olathe, Kansas.
A New Campus for Pediatric Mental Health Care
The facility launched in November 2024. The $53 million, 72-bed mental wellness campus was developed through a joint venture between Children's Mercy Kansas City and KVC Health Systems' Camber Mental Health, according to Camber Mental Health. The campus was built to expand inpatient psychiatric capacity in a metro area where dedicated pediatric beds have long been scarce.
Funding Stretches Beyond Hospital Beds
Fore the Kids' reach extends well past acute inpatient care. In August 2024, the foundation pledged $3.5 million to support Illuminate, Children's Mercy's strategic initiative addressing regional pediatric mental health, building on more than $8 million the foundation had already raised for the hospital since 2009, according to Children's Mercy. The foundation also established the permanent Nick Timmons Endowed Chair to lead research on adolescent suicide prevention and mood disorder treatment, as reported by The Independent.
Partner agencies are putting the money to work in different settings. The Children's Place, which has served young children and families since 1978, expanded outreach this year with The Children's Place on Wheels, a retrofitted mobile play-therapy unit that serves local schools and addresses transportation barriers by bringing therapy directly to early education centers, according to the WellSky Foundation.
Tournament Growth Reflects a Widening Crisis
This year marked a shift in format for the tournament itself. Fore the Kids moved its annual golf outing to Oakwood Country Club in 2026, consolidating the event onto a single course after previously filling two separate courses for six consecutive years, according to the Fore the Kids Foundation. The annual tournament has grown into a Kansas City charity golf outing, and a 2019 event included a live auction, FOX4KC reports.
Organizers say Fore the Kids plans to continue its fundraising momentum.
