By Amy Filippone, Dept. of Parks & Recreation
The Monica Buckley Foundation’s first annual tennis and pickleball fundraiser took place on October 23 and was a huge success. It was a collaborative effort of the Monica Buckley Foundation, the Moorestown Parks and Recreation Department, Laurel Creek Country Club and the Moorestown Field Club. The monies raised goes to fund special needs programming that serves the community beyond Moorestown. More than 100 people played tennis and pickleball throughout the day and many just donated, raising more than $10,000.
Many thanks to the Monica Buckley Foundation organizers, Sue Williams and Grace Ermey who tirelessly put the event together, to the Parks and Recreation staff, Theresa Miller, Rich Corbin, Cyndi Britton Roberts and Pat Brodie who were at all the sites making sure things ran smoothly. (Wegman’s donated cases of water that were at all the sites).
Tennis professionals, Alvaro Baez at Maple Dawson, Carol MacLennan and Bill Bohan at Laurel Creek Country Club and Mike Perrone at the Moorestown Field Club, kindly donated their time and ran tennis drills.
Pickleball, while new for many, was a crowd-pleaser. The department would like to extend their thanks to volunteer instructors: Cheryle Scott, Lisa Sattel, Denise Donald, Larry Pogust and Robin Altorfer. They’d also like to thank Gold Sponsors: Kelly and Chris Moye, Tracey and John Buckley, Sue and Ed Williams and Ken and Cheryl Catanella, for their generous donations.
“The feedback was amazing, and I got many enthusiastic requests to do it again,” said Event Chair Sue Williams.
Volleyball will be offered starting Nov.13 for five weeks for children in grades three through eight. On Friday evenings, boys and girls, of any level will learn fundamentals such as passing, serving, setting up and basic hitting. This is a great sport to play and learn. Instructor, Daniel H. Chung is currently the head girls volleyball coach at Paul VI high school and has more than 18 years of experience teaching youth volleyball.
Friday night co-ed volleyball is back for high schoolers this winter. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the William Allen Middle School, kids will be grouped into teams for some fun, competitive volleyball. Optional instruction is offered at the beginning of each session. This is a great way to exercise, hang out with friends and end the week with a smash.
NJ State COVID-19 safety standard guidelines will be enforced. Masks are required for all programs. Please visit www.moorestownrec.com to register.
