Pickleball tournament raises money for Tri City Health

Pickleball is preventative healthcare.

Mary Bruno knows that now. Today, she’s a pickler. She’s also a realtor with Keller Williams Inspire Realty and was one of the hosts of Tri City Health Partnership’s first Pickleball Tournament.

The event on March 23 at Pickled in Batavia raised more than $2,000 for Tri-City Health Partnership, which provides free medical care thanks to help from like-minded people like Bruno, Phil Bukowski of The Bukowski Team, Tony Houlahan of Houlahan Insurance Group as well as Stephanie Bivin of Inspire Wellness Counseling and Coaching who sponsored the event.

“I was introduced to (Tri City Health Partnership) through Phil Bukowski, one of their board members,” Bruno said. “He invited me to an event in the fall so I knew of their mission. And I’m a realtor in downtown Geneva so I work closely with Phil (Bukowski) and Tony (Houlahan). So we planned it together. We’re always doing events, and I’m in Mill Creek in Geneva and my husband and I have this newfound addiction to pickleball.”

Raising funds for a good cause via a pickleball tournament offered something different.

“We do a lot of family-oriented events so we thought this would be a good one to do without that little kid aspect,” Bruno said. “We talked about it in one of our planning meetings with (Tri City Health Partnership Executive Director) Dani (Ward) and she loved the idea. We said let’s do it at Pickled. With Pickled opening on Randall Road it was the perfect place. Any time I can use my business to give back to the community I’m all for it.”

It’s been nearly 25 years since Tri City Health Partnership began providing quality medical care to resident of central Kane County. TCHP receives no state or federal funding. Grants, donations and fundraising events like this one provide the means for qualified volunteer specialists to be able to deliver high quality medical and dental care.

TCHP provides free care to patients who live or work in Central Kane County, are uninsured and also under 250% of the federal poverty level, which varies based on the size of one’s family.

“There are so many amazing non-profits in our area that do amazing things that you don’t know about,” Bruno said. “I didn’t know anything about TCHP until going to that fundraiser in October of last year. It’s great to get some awareness about what they offer to the community.”

It would seem appropriate for people to come out and get some exercise and fun competition that’s good for their own health while helping others receive health care that they couldn’t afford without their generosity.

“There are so many amazing non-profits in our area that do amazing things that you don’t know about,” Bruno said. “I didn’t know anything about TCHP until going to that fundraiser in October of last year. It’s great to get some awareness about what they offer to the community.”

Tri City executive director Dani Ward said it was a “pretty fantastic first-time event,” raising $2,060 and that hopefully word continues to spread about their dedication to providing compassionate care for the underserved.

“That means that we can provide more than eight visits for patients in our medical and dental clinics,” she said. “The average cost of a patient visit is $247 and that includes all tests, images, medications, labs, etc., that you’d have a regular doctor or dental visit.”

The draw of pickleball caught the attention of many as 32 people registered to play, and everyone played at least seven matches.

Clausen Pickles, the team of Geneva’s Scott Clausen and his son Cam Clausen, won the tournament.