Candler Clays Charity Shoot

Presented By

23rd annual Candler Clays benefitting Advancements in Cancer Care to be held February 21-22, 2025

Candler Clays is an annual two-day event combining a charity live auction and reception on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, at The Palmetto Club and a charity clay shooting followed by a Lowcountry Boil on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Forest City Gun Club.

The 2024 Candler Clays Charity Shoot and Auction raised a record-breaking $275,299. Since inception, this event has raised more than $2.4 million to support Advancements in Cancer Care at the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion. 

If you have any questions or would like to be involved in this year’s Candler Clays please contact the Foundations office at 912-819-8683 or use the link below to register a team, purchase raffle tickets or make a Fund-A-Need donation. 

Sponsorships, Gun Raffle tickets & Fund-A-Need Donations                            

This year's honoree: Ellen Harper Williams

Our honoree for the 23rd annual Candler Clays Charity Shoot & Auction is Ellen Harper Williams. Ellen is a native Savannahian. She graduated from Savannah Country Day

School and continued her education at The University of Georgia where she earned degrees in Advertising and Public Relations from The Grady School of Journalism and minored in Psychology.

Soon after returning to Savannah to work in marketing at Thomas & Hutton, Ellen was introduced to the handsome, blue-eyed, life of the party, fellow Savannahian Allen Williams and as they say: the rest is beautiful history. Ellen and Allen married in 2010 and welcomed their first miracle, Charlotte, in 2012. After a couple of heartbreaks, Ellen and Allen thankfully and excitedly welcomed their second miracle, daughter Lanier, in 2015.

As with any mom of two little ones, life was busy, crazy, tiresome all rolled into one, so her six-month post-partum appointment was just a box to check. As a healthy, strong, avid exerciser, tennis player, and young mom of two, Ellen never considered her routine checkup would return abnormal results.

However, their world changed in an instant with that one terrible “C” word. Ellen received a Stage 3B cervical cancer diagnosis and was told she had the fight of her life ahead. After consulting with physicians locally as well as at Emory and MD Anderson, Ellen and Allen ultimately decided she would undergo treatment and care in Savannah at the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion.

What followed was months of targeted radiation simultaneously administered with rounds of chemotherapy followed by internal radiation and more chemotherapy.

Ellen was guided in her treatment by what she can only describe as “three of the best men she was privileged to know.” The late Dr. Ed Richards, Dr. Josh McKenzie, and Dr. John Mikell, along with their incredible teams of nurses and staff, provided Ellen with phenomenal care. Together and with her family, they learned, grew, and navigated the scary path that brought her here to tell her story today.

Ellen’s cancer journey is long, angering, blessed, scary, joyful, brutal, sad, ironic, inspired, and happy—but it is only a small part of her bigger life story.

Our Sponsors

Contact Us for More Information

For more information about giving opportunities for the St. Joseph’s/Candler Foundations, please call 912-819-8683. We look forward to talking with you. Thank you for your interest in supporting us so that we can ensure that our community continues to have access to the very best healthcare services, technology and programs available.

If you’d simply like our mailing address, please send any written communications or designated contributions to:

St. Joseph's/Candler Foundations
Heart & Lung Building
5356 Reynolds Street, Suite 400
Savannah, GA 31405