PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — Nearly 80 players are expected to compete in the 1HOPE Pickleball Tournament on Saturday at Pleasant Prairie Park.
The all-day event is organized by 1Hope, a local non-profit that connects the community with local foster parents.
Kenosha is approximately 40 to 50 families short of what is needed to sustain the number of children entering care.
“We need more families,” Kenosha foster parent Melissa Bohringer said. “We need more families to step in the gap for these sweet kids -- these amazing, wonderful kids -- who through no fault of their own need us.”
The fundraiser includes a food truck, kids’ activities, a DJ, and nearly 30 raffle baskets.
While many organizations organize golf outings to support their missions, 1HOPE executive director Karisa Wenberg went outside of the box. Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America for the past five years.
“If anybody knows anything about pickleball, they have a pretty cool community,” Wenberg said.
Kenosha’s Stacey Chike was put in charge of organizing the tournament.
“When we started the registration, we were a little bit worried because we about maybe 20 people signed up,” Chike said. “I was emailing people and texting people, and it was still real slow and all the sudden the rush came in. In fact, this week we still had about seven or eight people contact us at the last minute.”
1Hope has 150 volunteers helping with nearly 160 foster children in Kenosha, according to Wenberg.
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