The Serving Hope Charity Pickleball Cup took place on Sunday, July 12, at the Holey Ballz Indoor Pickleball and Events Center. The tournament raised healthy snack donations for Kim’s Open Door.
Serving Hope is a charity pickleball tournament that was hosted by four high school seniors from Allen D. Nease High School.
Instead of charging an entry fee, guests were asked to bring a snack donation in order to gain access to the tournament. Seventeen teams participated in front of family, friends and community members.
Sophie Liao, Keira Taank, Parmis Molavi and Malia Muhaimeen started Serving Hope for a school project, but it evolved into so much more.
Kim Bogart founded Kim’s Open Door in 2013 and has been mobilizing quality volunteers and staff who have served children in different ways over the last 30 years. Throughout the week the organization hosts programs in the arts, dance, English, science and sports for underserved children who immigrated to the United States under extraordinary circumstances. Before every program day, the volunteers and employees hand out snacks to the kids.
For the past three years, Liao has been volunteering for JaxTHRIVE, a nonprofit organization that offers online tutoring for refugee students. JaxTHRIVE partners with Kim’s Open Door for an ongoing event called Super Saturday. This event provides students with extra help in art, science and English.
Liao was introduced to Kim’s Open Door through Super Saturday, and she realized how impactful and meaningful their services are to the community. As she continued to learn more about Kim’s Open Door, she realized she wanted to do something to make an impact in her community.
When it was time for Liao to come up with an idea for a CAS project, a required service project for the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, she knew she wanted to come up with a project that would benefit the kids at Kim’s Open Door. Liao along with Taank, Molavi and Muhaimeen came up with Serving Hope.
“As you can tell from our names, all of our parents were immigrants. We know what it’s like to arrive in a new country full of strange people and even stranger customs, and to have to learn a new language on top of earning a living. We want to do everything we can to support children even if our impact has to start from the size of a snack packet,” said Liao.
