Severna Park Continues To Support Golfing For Gabi

In 2018, the family of then Severna Park High School basketball coach Paul Pellicani and his wife, Severn School teacher Lisa Pellicani, was dealt an unfathomable blow. Their 5-year-old granddaughter, Gabriella “Gabi” Pellicani, lost her battle with glioblastoma, an incurable, inoperable brain cancer mutation.

Paul and Lisa’s son, Nick, and daughter-in-law, Fabiana, were so grateful and impressed with the doctors and team at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, that they wanted to give back and make a difference. They formed Golfing For Gabi, a tournament fundraiser first held in 2019.

“The ultimate goal is for one day no other family will have to experience this tragic outcome from pediatric brain cancer,” Paul said.

Since its inception four years ago, Golfing For Gabi has raised nearly $300,000 for pediatric brain cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This year, the golf tournament will be held August 7 at Rockville Links Club in Rockville Centre, New York.

Each year, Paul and Lisa have sponsored Hole 5 because Gabi was 5 when she lost her 10-month battle and Hole 5 was Gabi's favorite as it is located adjacent to the pool and is the spot where she would wait by the fence to see her dad when he was golfing.

Paul’s former players, Lisa’s former students and many other people from the Severna Park area have raised more than $34,000 of the fundraising total in four years.

“Let’s not have this be just a sad story, but maybe something positive can come out of this,” Paul told the Severna Park Voice last year.

How To Help

Although the New York golf course is far from Anne Arundel County, these options allow people to help in other ways:

Venmo: golfing4gabi

Check: Made out to "Dana Farber Cancer Institute." Checks can be mailed to M/M Pellicani, 49 Hatton Drive, Severna Park, MD 21146. Please put “Hole #5” in the memo line.

Golfing For Gabi tax exempt # 04-2263040