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Plainview, NY—Jeweler Marc Solomon got $115,000 for his birthday this year.

Well, sort of. The sum didn’t buy him anything—no Rolex, no Maserati—it was the total raised in a charity golf tournament held on October 7, Solomon’s birthday, to benefit Songs of Love, a cause Solomon is passionate about.

The jeweler is as well known for his philanthropy as his jewelry—he’s an active Rotarian and spearheaded the donation of a community clock to the town of Syosset, NY, and is an active donor to Jewelers For Children, also helping to spearhead the New York State Jewelers’ Association golf outing to benefit that charity. The NYSJA golf outing was the week before the Songs of Love outing—giving Solomon and his friends lots of time on the links to raise money for sick children.

Songs Of Love is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates free, personalized, original songs to uplift children and teens currently facing tough medical, physical or emotional challenges, according to its website. Each CD is professionally produced with lyrics containing the child's name and references to all of his or her favorite activities, things, people, and pets. Songs are written and performed in any language in the musical style that the child likes best (pop, R&B, rap, rock, alternative, etc.), by a variety of talented professionals. Since 1996 the Songs of Love Foundation has reached out to over 22,500 children in over 500 hospitals and health care facilities in all 50 states. The songs have often been played to alleviate pain and trauma during painful and scary hospital treatments. The song recipients have played their "songs of love" in all kinds of situations and settings such as car trips to the hospital, show-and-tell at school, for family and friends in person or on the phone, and even for the doctors and nurses. The children have their "songs of love" always available to them whenever they are feeling down. The website tells of such touching stories as David, a child who will have to undergo 2-1/2 years of chemotherapy to beat leukemia, and Solomon relates the story of another child who fell and broke his foot while playing soccer—but discovered during the routine blood tests done before surgery to fix his foot that he had stage four cancer.

Songs of Love founder John Beltzer got the idea from the title of a song written by his late fraternal twin, Julio, shortly before he died. From there, the organization grew and now works with a host of professional singers and songwriters. For example, singer Angela Workman, who formerly traveled the world as a backup singer for renowned musician Ray Charles, has performed some of these special songs for children. Now she earns just $50 a song, but the rewards are much greater.

After meeting with Beltzer, Solomon took him to a Rotary luncheon with him. A Sixty Minutes special about the Songs of Love organization was played at the lunch, and Solomon says it reduced all 40 businesspeople in the room to tears by the time it finished playing. He wrote a $250 check to pay for one song, and his Rotary club decided then and there to donate $1,000 for four songs a year.

But that wasn’t all. Shortly after the Rotary lunch, Solomon walked into a restaurant ostensibly to meet with Beltzer, and found four of his friends already at the table with him—the beginning of a committee that would organize a golf outing fundraiser to benefit Songs of Love. It was 2012, and the first annual outing was held barely a week before Hurricane Sandy struck and devastated the area.

Jeweler Marc Solomon, second from right, hams it up with his Songs of Love golf committee, comprised of Jeff Baltimore, Eric Diton, Annie Gilbert, and Shelly Goldman, at the first outing last year, just days before Hurricane Sandy struck. Click here or on the image to watch a video of the 2012 event and hear an example of a sick child's personal song, sung by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

The first golf outing raised between $40,000 and $45,000, said Solomon. This year’s outing, the second annual, grossed $115,000. Solomon’s Jewelers also now features Songs Of Love in its advertising; something Marc Solomon had to get permission from vendors to do, but he was determined.

“On September 30, we had the New York State Jewelers Association golf outing for Jewelers for Children, and on October 7, my birthday, we had the Songs of Love outing. It was the best birthday present ever!” he says.