Woodstock Lions Club Foundation held their third annual Pickleball Jamboree at Dupree Park

Woodstock, GA 11/15/25 -- Members of the Woodstock Lions Club Foundation held their third annual Pickleball Jamboree at Dupree Park on Saturday & Sunday 11/01 & 11/02 to raise funds for the Woodstock Lions Club Foundation. Funds donated by community members will be used in Woodstock & surrounding Cherokee County to support three of the eight Lions Club Global causes. (Diabetes, Vision, Hunger, Environment, Childhood Cancer, Youth, Disaster Relief, & Humanitarian.)

Both days began with an Opening Ceremony. Members of the River Ridge High School AFJROTC presented the Flag and sang the National Anthem. Woodstock Lions Club recognized Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell and the City of Woodstock for donating Dupree Park for the Jamboree. Lions 18L Past District Governor Wes Gifford was in attendance on both Saturday & Sunday, to thank the participants and support the volunteers. The Pickleball Jamboree had 94 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, 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 and Woodstock High School Food Pantry, both located in Woodstock, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The Woodstock High School Pantry also supports Woodstock Elementary & Middle Schools as well as Sixes Elementary.”

In addition to money raised we also asked players and volunteers to donate dry-good foods that have been delivered to both the St. Michaels & Never Alone Food Pantries.”

Lions’ members thank everyone who contributed to make our third annual Pickleball Jamboree a tremendous success. A huge thank you to our sponsors; Silver Sponsors were Georgia Urology, Reich Dental & Evolute Pickleball. Bronze sponsors were Vacuums Etc, Big Dan’s Carwash, Custom Klimates, C&T Auto Services, CoolScreens, & Freemon Dental Associates.

We had an incredible group of volunteers who worked tirelessly organizing, setting up and executing the two-day Jamboree. We specifically want to thank AFJROTC Chief Rodney Deese and his Cadets from River Ridge High School. They are truly amazing and hardworking young people. A thank you to our enthusiastic Pickleball players from around Cherokee County who work hard as volunteers. Many were players too. A thank you to Jon Ansler who helped behind the scenes to set up and manage our Jamboree on Pickleball Brackets. And finally, a thanks to our Woodstock Lions Club members for their endless time and work on this Jamboree.

We now have $7,601 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 WoodstockLionsClub@Gmail.com, call us at (770) 906-2958, or visit our website at https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/woodstockga/.

To see photos of the event, click here.

Lions Clubs International is the largest membership-based service organization in the world. Our 1.4 million members in more than 49,000 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.