PENN TWP — Joe Kelly tries to do everything he can to raise money for his late grandson's foundation.

He even goes as far as rounding up bottle caps to recycle for money.

"I still do it," Kelly said, smiling.

He earns a penny here, a penny there toward the cause that has consumed his life and that of his son, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.

Hunter was born with a rare nervous system disease called Krabbe Leukodystrophy. Jim Kelly, who grew up in East Brady, started a foundation called Hunter's Hope in 1997 to help raise money to find a cure.

The normal life span for a child born withKrabbe Disease is 13 months; Hunter was 8 when he died Aug. 5, 2005.

Joe Kelly's scavenging of twist caps helped launch an even bigger undertaking Monday atConley's Resort.

"Dan McKnight, Howard Graham and Dan Haggerty watched Joe collect these bottle caps or twist tabs — whatever you want to call them — and send them somewhere for money," said Wayne Conley, owner of the resort. "They got so tired of seeing him do that they said, why don't we just hold a charity golf outing and make a lot of money at once."

So, they did.

What resulted was the Swing for Hope event held under a warm sun and cool breeze Monday at Conley's Resort.

Jim Kelly stood in front of many of the 144 golfers at the event as they were preparing to tee off and said, "This glorious day provided by Hunter."

"If that doesn't make you cry," said McKnight, a Butler native who helped organize the event, "there is something wrong with you."

Joe Kelly, who now lives in Butler, said he had no doubt Hunter was looking down on the golfers and the event, which raised more than $15,000 for the foundation.

"Everything is perfect," he said.

Jim Kelly was the only celebrity at the event, but he didn't play a full round of golf. Instead, he mingled with the golfers, hit soaring tee shots and talked about what Hunter has meant to thousands of kids still stricken with the disease.

"Since my son was born, he's already changed the lives of hundreds and hundreds of kids and thousands and thousands of parents," Jim Kelly said. "If you just knew what he meant to all these kids. I got to see what he went through every day."

Hunter was born on his father's birthday — Valentine's Day — in 1997. A few months later, the Kelly family was given the news that Hunter had Krabbe Disease.

Jim Kelly made it his goal to find a cure.

The foundation has made great progress toward that goal in just nine years.

"There's treatment to help my son's disease," Jim Kelly said. "The State of New York just granted us $7 million about three months ago. There's now a Hunter James Kelly Research Institute in Buffalo. Our foundation is kicking butt. We'll continue to do it until every kid with this disease has a treatment for this disease."

Kelly spends most of his time these days traveling the country to spread the word about Krabbe Disease.

He's appeared on"Oprah," the "Today Show" and countless other programs to help raise awareness, and his foundation has raised more than $13 million.

The biggest mission is getting all 50 states to do infant screenings for Krabbe and other diseases that, in many cases, can be treated and/or prevented if caught early.

"The State of New York announced it will be the first state to test for Krabbe Leukodystrophy," Kelly said. "Our big thing now is to make sure every state tests for the maximum — about 60 diseases — that are treatable. Some states test for 45, some states test for 20, some states only test for five. Thousands and thousands of kids go untreated a year and a lot of them die."

McKnight said the charity golf outing will be an annual event. Conley's already has been reserved for Aug. 20 next year.

In addition to the more than $15,000 the charity golf outing at Conley's raised Monday, the organizers expect more of a windfall from a memorabilia auction and a drawing for a custom-built motorcycle signed by 10 Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks.

The motorcycle was donated by Orange County Chopper and will be signed by Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon and Steve Young.

The winner will be chosen June 3, 2007 at the Hunter's Motorcycle Run inBuffalo.

"That will be worth a lot of twist tabs," Joe Kelly said, chuckling.