Let's Have a Party

I want to let everyone know that Monterey Bay Pickleball Club is having a potluck party this weekend: Saturday 9/2 from 1pm to 5pm. You may have seen the flyers we've posted at most courts around town (see below). It will be at Michael Kennedy's house: 114 Don Dahvee Ln, Monterey.

Mike recently joined the club's Board of Directors to fill the vacant Secretary role. His house is conveniently located behind Del Monte Shopping Center. This party is open to all pickleball players or anyone interested in pickleball. No need to be a club member.

During the event I'll give an update on the club on some of the projects we are working on such at the Ryan Ranch and Wheeler courts. I hope you can join us for a fun afternoon.

Wheeler Court Resurfacing

We are once again are seeking support from the pickleball community for a pickleball court improvement project. Tomorrow (Monday Aug 21), the Seaside Parks and Rec committee will be meeting to discuss the resurfacing of the Wheeler Tennis courts in Seaside. If you have not played there, it is a lovely park with 4 tennis courts which are currently striped with 4 pickleball courts.

Unfortunately, these courts are in very rough shape and are in desperate need of resurfacing. One of the P&R commissioners is on board and requesting that members of the pickleball community show up to provide them with some guidance. Here is what she said:

... I’m really looking to get an idea if the potential project of resurfacing the wheeler courts for tennis and pickleball is worth it. Will it get enough use. Is it a good location for current players and how is the neighborhood responding to PB users. The input from regulars would be helpful in our P&R decisions as to whether or not to prioritize the project.

If we have enough people show up with a strong show of support for play at Wheeler, it might even be possible to replace some of the tennis courts with permanent pickleball courts. So, please come to show your support especially if you are a regular player at Wheeler.

Here are the meeting details:

What : Parks and Recreation Meeting

Why : To discuss Wheeler Resurfacing

When : August 21 at 5:30 PM

Where : Seaside City Hall : 440 Harcourt Ave, Seaside

If you are unable to attend, but, would still like to support this effort, you can send an email with your comments to me. Please send your email before 4pm on Monday and I'll make sure it is presented to the committee. My address is: MichaelALang@comcast.net.

As always, thanks for your support and I hope to see you are Seaside City Hall tomorrow.

Ryan Ranch Vote : Success!!

Our project to fund the design of a dedicated pickleball facility at Ryan Ranch Park was one of the highest ranked projects at last Thursday's NCIP voting meeting. Our unofficial tally has us tied for 3rd out of 93 projects! We received 120 out of a possible 130 votes. With this overwhelming support from the NCIP committee, we should have no problem receiving the $80,000 funding required to complete the design phase.

I want to sincerely thank all the people that helped achieve this important milestone. About one dozen letters were submitted to the NCIP committee in support of this project. There were another 25 or so people that attended NCIP meetings over the last few months to further build support among the committee. I want to especially thank John Sovereign and Michael Kennedy for their extensive behind the scenes work. Without them, this would not have been possible.

So, what's next?

Technically, these are “provisional” results. The NCIP committee will meet on Aug 10 to verify the votes and finalize the project rankings. Then they send their recommendations to the city council. The City Council will approve the projects at one of their September meetings. Probably Sept 5, but, perhaps Sept 19. This will complete the design funding process.

Going forward, we will have two main objectives over the next year:

1. Work with the City to create a top notch pickleball facility design

2. Raise as much money as we can

The first is pretty self explanatory, but, there are a lot of process issues that we need to understand such as timelines and how we provide our input. I will be digging into this over the next few weeks.

The second one is where we really need your help. In the future, we will be asking the NCIP committee for construction funding which is significantly more than this year's design phase: $400K vs $80K. During the voting night, I noticed that costly projects generally receive low rankings. That is, they are not likely to be funded. This year, only 4 of 21 projects with price tags of $300,000 or higher are likely to be funded. Our best chance of receiving funding for construction is to bring matching funds of our own. I don't know how much we'll need to raise, but, it will be 5 or 6 digits.

So, we will soon be kicking off a capital fundraising campaign. Not only do we need donors, but we also need people to help to run our fundraising efforts. Here are some of our needs:

• If anyone reading this has experience with fundraising and is willing to lead this fundraising effort, I would be most appreciative.

• If anyone would be willing to lead a fundraising event like a pickleball tournament or other social event, please let me know.

• I'm hoping we can get corporate donations of either cash or materials & services. If you know of a business that might be willing to donate, please send us their contact info.

• We also hope to use our 501(c)(3) non profit status to apply for grants, so, if anyone has experience with grants, we could really use your help.

• If you have the means, or know someone that does, and you would like to make a sizeable donation, please consider working with us to set up a gift matching donation. Other local organizations have had great success when large donors match the gifts of smaller donors.

• Lastly, if you just want to help but don't know what's the best way you can contribute, or if you have some ideas not listed here, please contact us.

If you can help with any of these, please contact me directly at MichaelALang@comcast.net

Feel free to brainstorm fundraising ideas in the comment section below. Or, if you have been a part of successful fundraising activities lead by other organizations, please share your experiences in the comments.

See you on the courts!