This past January the Greater Midland Tennis Center held their first Team Tennis Challenge Fundraiser with all proceeds benefiting Special Olympics of Michigan (SOMI). Over 40 adults and juniors participated in this fun event and many other members and patrons of the Tennis Center contributed cash donations.

Several Midland area businesses contributed items for a silent auction which raised additional proceeds, and Garber Chevrolet and Ieuter Insurance Group donated funds to cover the cost of the event. The participation, silent auction, and donations for this event raised $3,141 for SOMI and the Tennis and Education Foundation from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Midwest pledged to match funds up to $1,000. A grand total of $4,141 was raised for this outstanding organization.

SOMI Special Gifts Manager, Robbie Waclawski and Tennis Center Events Coordinator, Talaya Schilb worked hard to make this event a memorable one for participants, and they were honored to present SOMI CEO Lois Arnold with a check for the proceeds recently. They were joined by USTA Midwest Treasurer, Paul Farah and the four had an opportunity to discuss the ways in which this fundraiser will create opportunities to grow the great sport of tennis within SOMI.

“Talaya and I are going to work on conducting a tennis clinic as part of the Special Olympics Michigan State Summer Games hosted on the CMU campus in the first week of June,” Waclawski shared. “Thank you to everyone involved in making this first attempt at a fundraiser so special. I believe it was a huge success, and already see it growing substantially in the future.”

The Tennis Center and SOMI plan to make this fundraiser a yearly occurrence with tentative plans for the next one in fall 2017.