2024 Pros4Care golf benefit raises about $10,000

Gas Equipment Co. was among the sponsors at this year’s Pros4Care golf benefit for prostate cancer research and awareness. (Photo by Ed Varney)

The 16th annual Pros4Care golf benefit drew 75 attendees and raised about $10,000 to fund prostate cancer research and awareness.

The proceeds of this year’s event, held in Plano, Texas, will go toward hospitals and associations that back prostate cancer research and outreach.

Pros4Care is a nonprofit founded in 2006 by propane industry members Ed Varney, owner of Top Line Management; Pat Hyland, formerly of the Propane Education & Research Council and LP Gas magazine; and Bill Powers, formerly of Heritage Propane.

The organization aims to save lives through education and resources.

“We are very happy with our event this year,” says Varney. “We had six survivors participate and share their stories with others. They shared treatment options and the importance of early detection and annual screening. If we can save one life, it is all worth it.”

Former Dallas Cowboys players Flozell Adams and Adam Redmond and former Baltimore Ravens player Kahlil McKenzie attended the benefit.

Sponsors from the propane industry included BT&T, Gas Equipment Co., Hiltz Propane Systems, LP Gas, Marshall Excelsior Co., Metsa Tanks, RMI, Tarantin Industries, Targa, TerraVest Industries, TransTech, and Bill and Lisa Powers.

Since its inception, Pros4Care has raised over $300,000 to support prostate cancer research and awareness and has supported a dozen propane industry members who received a prostate cancer diagnosis.

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), one in eight men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. In 2024, more than 299,000 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and more than 35,000 will die from the disease.

The PCF recommends that men talk to their doctors about screening for prostate cancer starting at age 45 or age 40 if they have a family history of prostate cancer or other cancers. Early detection can reduce the risk of death from the disease. The five-year survival rate in the U.S. for men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer is greater than 99 percent, according to the PCF.