Sydney Gran Foundation Gala

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Auburn Family has been invited to the SGF Gala:

From personal e-mail:

The event is the Sydney Gran Foundation Gala on March 18th at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center at Grand National, (Opelika, AL). There will be many former players in attendance including Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, Rudi Johnson, Heath Evans, Jason Campbell, Carlos Rogers, Roderick Hood, Dontarious Thomas, Spencer Johnson as well as Coach Tuberville. There will be a silent auction as well as a live auction. There are various levels of sponsorship with the highest being $15,000 for the Title Sponsor which gives you 2 reserved tables and many other amenities, Angels Sponsor for $5,000 which gives you 1 table and amenities, and Saints Sponsor for $1500 which gives you 1 reserved table. I will explain the various amenities when they contact me. At that time I will fax them all the details of the event.

From AuburnSports.com Bryan Matthews:

Sydney Gran passed away on May 31, 2005. But her parents, Auburn assistant coach Eddie Gran and his wife, Rosemary, have set up the Sydney Gran Foundation to honor her life and to help other children born with neurological disorders.

Eddie and Rosemary Gran with their four daughters Lucy Grace, Hannah, Dillan and the late Sydney.

The Sydney Gran Foundation has already raised over $40,000 and hopes to raise more on March 18 at their first annual benefit.

"We set up this foundation a week prior to when Sydney passed," said Gran. "We're going to try and raise as much money as we can for the foundation. The money is going to go to the Neurological Clinic at Children's Hospital to help the babies and young children with seizures. Part of Sydney's disease had to do with seizures in her brain deficiency."

Sydney was born with Holoprosencephaly (HPE), a disorder in which the fetal brain does not grow forward and divide as it is supposed to during early pregnancy. Only three percent of infants with HPE survive delivery, the vast majority of those do not survive more than six months.

Sydney passed just one day shy of her sixth birthday.

The inaugural Sydney Gran Foundation Benefit will be held on Mar. 18 at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center at Grand National in Opelika. A number of Auburn stars are already scheduled to attend including head coach Tommy Tuberville, and former players Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Carlos Rogers, Dontarrious Thomas, Kendall Simmons, Rudi Johnson and Heath Evans.

"We're going to try and have one around the spring game each year," said Gran. "What we want to do is bring in some past players, players that knew Sydney and they're going to try and be a part of it and bring some nice gifts and we're going to have a silent auction and a live auction. We're selling tables. There are sponsors. You can come for the dinner. It's business casual evening. It will be a nice social and it will be for a great cause.

"We'll start it this year and next year we might put it to another cause."

The silent auction will include autographed items from the ex-players while the live auction will include trips to travel with the football and basketball teams, an opportunity to be a special guest during a home baseball game and several hunting trips with Auburn assistant coaches.

Tickets to the event are $100 and can be purchased in advance by contacting Drake Nunn at 256-426-2554. Tickets will also be available at the door and there are still sponsorships available.

The inaugural Sydney Gran Foundation Benefit starts at 6:30 p.m. CT. For more information, please visit this website: Children's Hospital

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Birmingham News Article

AUBURN - Eddie and Rosemary Gran were told early on their daughter, Sydney, faced a difficult time.

She was born with holoprosencephaly, a rare disorder in which the fetal brain does not properly develop, and the Grans were told she would not live six months.

She almost made it six years.

Saturday night, after Auburn's A-Day spring game, the assistant football coach and his wife, a collection of former Auburn star players including Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell and hundreds of well-wishers will honor her memory at the sold-out Sydney Gran Foundation Gala in Opelika.

The function will raise money for the Clinic for Neurological Care at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.

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Gala Raises Over $100,000