CVS Cancels Charity Golf Classic and Crave Food Festival

CVS Cancels Charity Golf Classic and Crave Food Festival

Rhode Island’s largest for-profit corporation has pulled the plug on its two major community events — the longstanding CVS Charity Golf Classic and the Crave RI food festival.

CVS is one of the largest corporations in the United States and in 2021 reported gross sales of over $292 billion.

The Charity Classic golf event was an institution — it originally was launched as a PGA event in 1999 and the event attracted some of the greatest golfers in history to Rhode Island.

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Justin Leonard and Davis Love, III teamed up to win the 2000 championship. Each year the event was the biggest sporting event in Rhode Island -- attracting thousands to Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington.

It also attracted a national TV audience as the Golf Channel and then Fox Sports Net broadcasted the event. And, maybe most importantly, it raised tens of millions for charities in the region.

CVS has also confirmed that the Crave Food Festival -- which ran in 2018 and 2019 and was held at the Rhode Island Convention Center -- has also been shuttered.

"Over the past 23 years, the CVS Health Charity Classic has donated more than $25 million to organizations working tirelessly to support communities across Southern New England. Throughout the pandemic, supporting the communities we serve has been more critical than ever.  While we had to move away from in-person events such as the Charity Classic golf tournament during the last two years, we continued to support organizations that are helping children and families access health care, education and social services, and are proud to have donated more than $3 million through the Charity Classic during this time," said Mike DeAngelis of CVS Health Corporate Communications.

"Through this experience, we adopted new ways of focusing our resources on charitable programs to help support our communities and continue to drive social impact. We’re excited to introduce the CVS Health Foundation Hometown Fund to carry this mission into the future. As we transition our focus from the Charity Classic to the CVS Foundation Hometown Fund, we thank our co-hosts, Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade, our colleagues and our non-profit partners for their partnership and shared commitment to our local communities," added DeAngelis.