Avery Grace Kargel Memorial Golf Tournament

About Us

For those of you who don’t know, here is a little background on the Avery Grace Kargel Memorial. My husband Jason and I gave birth to a little girl, Avery Grace, on July 13, 2006. She was in God’s hands before we ever got to hold her in ours. In the midst of our tears and grief Jill Gerland and Empty Arms reached out and touched our hearts and lives like no one else could. They sent us a care basket with lotion, Kleenex and other things to pamper broken hearted parents. The basket also held books about grieving and loss filled with stories from other families who had experienced the same thing. During a time that we felt like no one else could possibly understand our pain we were able to open the books and read how others had coped. We learned that while our lives would never be the same we really would be ok. It became our heart’s desire to help as many other families during their losses as we could. We held the 1st Annual Avery Grace Kargel Memorial Golf Tournament on December 1, 2006. 

For the past twelve years we have hosted a golf tournament in Avery's memory to raise funds for Empty Arms and M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death).  Both organizations reach out to families who have lost a child due to miscarriage, stillbirth or early infant death.  We are proud to have helped both groups give hope to families in their times of need.  

This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Texas Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.  It is our long term goal to open a free standing perinatal hospice where families who’s babies have been given lethal diagnosis’s can create special memories outside of a hospital environment.  The Texas Fetal Center has a room, Marnie’s Garden Room, dedicated to perinatal hospice and the only perinatal certified nurse in the state of Texas.