SECOND ANNUAL WOODSTOCK LIONS CLUB PICKLEBALL JAMBOREE

Woodstock, GA 11/08/24 -- Members of the Woodstock Lions Club held their second annual Pickleball Jamboree at Dupree Park on Saturday & Sunday 10/26-10/27 to raise funds for the Woodstock Lions Club Foundation. Funds donated by community members will be used to support the eight Lions Club Global causes.  (Diabetes, Vision, Hunger, Environment, Childhood Cancer, Youth, Disaster Relief, and Humanitarian).

Both days began with an Opening Ceremony.  Members of the River Ridge High School ROTC presented the Flag and sang the National Anthem.  Woodstock Lions Club recognized Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell and the City of Woodstock for donating Dupree Park for the Jamboree.  Mayor Caldwell spoke to the wonderful support from the community and the Woodstock Lions Club.  Lions 18L District Governor Wes Gifford was in attendance on Saturday & Council Chair Dennis Chapman on Sunday, to thank the participants and support the volunteers.  The Pickleball Jamboree had 159 players and a good many spectators.  

“Money raised as a result of the Jamboree will allow Lions to meet pressing needs in our community including causes such as Vision Screening in Cherokee County schools and events for Vision Impaired, contributing to local Food Pantries, local High Schools’ pantry & project needs, and disaster relief in hard hit areas around Georgia.” said Gopinath Govindaraj, Pickleball Jamboree Director, of Woodstock Lions Club. “In fact, as a result of our wonderful sponsors, we have already begun to distribute funds.  In the last few weeks, we donated $500 each to the St. Michaels Food Pantry & Never Alone Food Pantry, both located in Woodstock.  We also sent a check for $1,000 to the Douglas, GA Lions Club Foundation.  Douglas, GA was devasted by Hurricane Helene.  Many residents in Douglas lost their homes, have no homeowner’s insurance, and are now living in tents.  In addition to money raised, we also asked players and volunteers to donate dry-good foods to be delivered to both the St. Michaels & Never Alone Food Pantries.”

Lions’ members thank everyone who contributed to make our second annual Pickleball Jamboree a tremendous success.  A huge thank you to our sponsors; Our Platinum Sponsor was A11N Pickleball. Silver Sponsors were Georgia Urology & Northside Hospital.  Bronze sponsors were Corrective Chiropractic, Vacuums Etc, Allstate BK Kellerman Agency, Big Dan’s Carwash who also contribute $25 car-wash coupons in each & every Player & Volunteer swag bag, (an in-kind gift valued at $6,250), Reich Dental, Chick-Fil-A Towne Lake, McDonald’s, Burger King, Canyons Grill, and Starbucks Towne Lake.  

We had an incredible group of volunteers who worked tirelessly organizing, setting up, and executing the two-day Jamboree.  We specifically want to thank ROTC Major Marlon Ayers and his Cadets from River Ridge High School.  They are truly amazing and hard-working young people.  A thank you to our enthusiastic Pickleball players from around Cherokee County who work hard as volunteers.  Many were players too.  A thank you to Jon Ansler who helped behind the scenes to set up and manage our Jamboree on Pickleball Brackets.  And finally, a thanks to our Woodstock Lions Club members for their endless time and work on this Jamboree.  

We should have approximately $11,688 for our Foundation to work with because of this Jamboree.  (That is an 84.9% increase over 2023’s Jamboree).  All of our sponsors and volunteers are truly helping Lions make a difference in our community.

The Woodstock Lions Club has twenty-four members and meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 7:00 pm at The Tavern @ Towne Lake.  Lions’ clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the Woodstock Lions Club, please contact us at WoodstockLionsClub@Gmail.com, call us at (770) 906-2958, or visit our website at https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/woodstockga/.

To see photos of the event, click here.

Lions Clubs International is the largest membership-based service organization in the world. Our 1.4 million members in more than 49,000 clubs are serving in 200 countries and geographic areas. Since 1917, Lions have improved health and well-being, strengthened communities and supported those in need, locally and globally. At Lions Clubs International our motto is “We Serve.” Learn more about who we are and what we do at lionsclubs.org.