10/28/2026
Members of the Woodstock Lions Club Foundation held their fourth annual Pickleball Jamboree at Dupree Park on Sunday 10/18 to raise funds for the Woodstock Lions Club Foundation. Funds donated by community members will be used in Woodstock & surrounding Cherokee County to support the eight Lions Club Global causes. (Childhood Cancer, Diabetes, Disaster Relief, Humanitarian, Hunger, Environment, Vision, and Youth.)
The day began with an Opening Ceremony. Lion Wayne Basford lead the prayer and Lion Paul Smith lead the Pledge of Alliance. Woodstock Lions Club recognized Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell and the City of Woodstock for donating Dupree Park for the Jamboree. Lions District Governor Dennis Chapman was in attendance to thank the participants and support the volunteers. The Pickleball Jamboree had 108 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, funding for Disaster Relief, and Humanitarian needs” said Paul D. Smith, 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 past week, we allocated funds to both Never Alone Food Pantry located in Woodstock, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank. We also sent a check to LCIF, (Lions Club International Foundation), to support disaster relief in the countries of Columbia and Nepal.
In addition to money raised we also asked players and volunteers to donate dry-good foods that have been delivered to the Woodstock High School Pantry. The Woodstock High School Pantry also supports Woodstock Elementary & Middle Schools as well as Sixes & Carmel Elementary.
Lions’ members thank everyone who contributed to make our fourth annual Pickleball Jamboree a tremendous success. A huge thank you to our sponsors; Gold Sponsors were Georgia Urology, Coolscreens, and Northside Hospital Canton. Silver sponsors were Big Dan’s Car Wash, Reich Dental, TE Certified, and Outback Decks, Inc. Bronze sponsors were Towne Lake Eye Associates and Merit Financial Planners. Body Bagged Pickleball had a special event table.
We had an incredible group of volunteers who worked tirelessly organizing, setting up and executing the Jamboree. A special thank-you to Chuck Rapport, our Court Monitor for 15 hours Sunday. And a thank-you to non-Lion volunteers Denise Hazlett, Ali Ghassemzadeh, and Jennifer Przbyla. Finally, a thanks to our Woodstock Lions Club members for their endless time and work on this Jamboree.
We now have $9,559.80 for our Foundation to work with because of this Jamboree. All of our sponsors and volunteers are truly helping Lions make a difference in our community.
The Woodstock Lions Club has twenty-seven members and meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:45 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 [email protected], call us at (770) 906-2958, or visit our website at https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/woodstockga/.
Lions Clubs International is the largest membership-based service organization in the world. Our 1.4 million members in more than 50,000 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.
