SMU’s corporate community program “Big Hearts, Little Ponies” held their first ever charity fundraiser “Putt with the Ponies” on Saturday, Aug. 22 at TopGolf Dallas. The event was designed to reach SMU’s football season ticket holders and fans that are excited for the upcoming season.
“We sent out notices and e-mail blasts to season ticket holders, students, young alumni and staff,” said Anne Patterson, manager of corporate ticket sales at SMU. “It’s our first ever event and hopefully there will be another one once school starts.”
“Big Hearts, Little Ponies” was created to raise money for less fortunate DISD kids to allow them to attend SMU football games, meet the players and get a feel for campus life. Participants paid $10 for three rounds of golf, 54 holes of putt putt in total, and all proceeds went directly to “Big Hearts, Little Ponies”.
“It changes their way of thinking,” said Patterson. “It allows them to think that they can actually attend college because these kids actually do want to go to college.”
“Putt with the Ponies” is the first event that the program has ever put on and Patterson believed it would be more of a trial run than anything else. However, “Putt with the Ponies” turned out to be a success, easily meeting the number of people they had hoped would attend only halfway through the event.
Aside from the main event at TopGolf Dallas, “Big Hearts, Little Ponies” also had a side event at Lily Pulitzer, located in Northpark Mall, the day before, on Aug. 21. Ten percent of all proceeds earned on Friday went to “Big Hearts, Little Ponies.” Lily Pulitzer has been a long time supporter of SMU and has done many things with SMU athletics, including participation in the Red and Blue scrimmage last year.
Two other sponsors were also on site to lend their support and assistance to the event: Palm Beach Tan and States of Apparel. A majority of SMU students know about Palm Beach Tan, but States of Apparel probably doesn’t ring a bell. That’s because Robert Tobolowsky, a current SMU student and the CEO and founder of States of Apparel, started his business only a month ago.
However, Tobolowsky already has plans to start selling his products on the Boulevard before football games, and he has already been in contact with the NCAA in an attempt to get authenticated and start putting team mascots on his clothing.
“I got the idea because I met many people from Louisiana and they have a lot of state pride,” he said. “And Texas is three times as big with even more pride, so there are huge potential markets out there.”
SMU football is right around the corner and Patterson is glad that her event has helped excite the community. She has even bigger plans once school starts and students are back in Dallas.
“The purpose of this event was to pump up the community about SMU football,” she said. “Students should look out for another event at TopGolf later this year.”
