As we prepare for the 11th Annual Hot Stove Dinner—happening Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Bradenton Country Club in Bradenton, FL, and online for virtual guests—event host Clint Hurdle takes us on a journey through the event’s history.
Originally shared with PWSA | USA in 2022, Clint’s heartfelt reflection, A Legacy of Love, tells the story behind the Hot Stove Dinner—how he and his wife, Karla, started the event, how it has grown over the years, and the incredible impact it has on families affected by Prader-Willi syndrome.
As we look ahead to this year’s event, we are honored to revisit and share this inspiring story. Our deepest gratitude goes to the Hurdles for their unwavering dedication to PWSA | USA and the PWS community.
Contributed by Clint Hurdle
“Hot Stove” is a term used in baseball vernacular for conversations about baseball in the winter when it’s cold, especially in the northern states when there’s snow, but there’s spring training baseball on the horizon. It’s something to look forward to. So, the term hot stove actually came about in winter conversations about springtime baseball. We stuck with it and launched the Clint Hurdle Hot Stove Dinner in 2015.
We started small with our first event, where roughly 75 to 100 people attended. We had a silent auction and a live auction. The Pittsburgh Pirates were a big help, but former PWSA | USA staff member Rikka Bos and I pretty much did all of it. We built it up from 75 people and maybe $60,000 the first year to over $200,000 in her last year of helping in 2020. That event was held on March 13, 2020. Then, on March 15, 2020, the nation went on shutdown. Even with the initial pandemic discussions happening around us, 120 people still chose to use their feet and their hearts to show up and donate.
After that, we had to move the event. In 2021, we moved it during COVID to the Key Royale Club on Anna Maria Island, FL, where we live. We put up a tent and hosted 150 people! In 2019 and 2020, we’ve raised over $250,000.
I have been the national spokesperson for PWSA | USA, I have spoken to fathers and families coast to coast, I’ve watched Maddie’s progression – this is a journey we’ve been on for 22 years now. I’m so proud of our organization with the advancements that we’ve made, and the different opportunities kids have today who are born with Prader-Willi syndrome. The awareness is getting to a good place and the information available now is more truthful than dated. We have chosen to support the daily operations of family funding with the money raised at the Hot Stove Dinner because there are families that don’t even know what they’re dealing with that aren’t diagnosed. Our biggest heartbeat for this is to help the families with kids who have Prader-Willi syndrome find out it is Prader-Willi syndrome, and then what the next steps can be. If they need financial aid, we can also provide financial support for our families.
Karla became much more involved in 2021 (she said she came out of retirement) because this fundraiser now has a lot more moving parts to it. We’re virtual and we’re live. We have been lucky to receive support from PWSA | USA’s staff over the years, especially Stacy Ward who has shown up with her husband year after year to help. PWSA | USA Board Member Michelle Torbert also deserves a lot of credit for all of her heavy lifting. We also brought in Leaving Legacies Foundation (now Elevare Foundation), who are friends of mine I have known for years, and we finally got to a point in time where it made sense to look for some outsourcing for some of the gifting and donations. They showed up big time for our event in 2020 and have been on board ever since.
I credit the people, the truthtellers in my life that got me out of my comfort spot. We’re in a good place and are expecting another really good event this year. Our expectations are filling up and will probably even get bigger! At the end of the day, with this event, we are able to reach and touch more families, children, young adults, and even older adults who have the syndrome and can help provide a quality of life now that maybe they didn’t have before.
Jennifer Bolander has been serving as a Special Education Specialist for PWSA (USA) since October of 2015. She is a graduate of John Carroll University and lives in Ohio with her husband Brad and daughters Kate (17), and Sophia (13) who was born with PWS.
Perry A. Zirkel has written more than 1,500 publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He writes a regular column for NAESP’s Principal magazine and NASP’s Communiqué newsletter, and he did so previously for Phi Delta Kappan and Teaching Exceptional Children.
Evan has worked with the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA) since 2007 primarily as a Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor. Evans works with parents and schools to foster strong collaborative relationships and appropriate educational environments for students with PWS.
Dr. Amy McTighe is the PWS Program Manager and Inpatient Teacher at the Center for Prader-Willi Syndrome at the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Duquesne University receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education with a focus on elementary education, special education, and language arts.
Staci Zimmerman works for Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado as an Individualized Education Program (IEP) consultant. Staci collaborates with the PWS multi-disciplinary clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Denver supporting families and school districts around the United States with their child’s Individual Educational Plan.
Founded in 2001, SDLC is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with disabilities throughout the South. It partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, Legal Services Corporations (LSC) and disability organizations on major, systemic disability rights issues involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the federal Medicaid Act. Recently in November 2014, Jim retired.