Coralville pickleball tournament raises $3,600 to fight hunger

Pickleball turned into pantry dollars in Coralville, where about 30 players helped raise roughly $3,600 for CommUnity Crisis Services’ food bank at the Rally & Rise For Hunger tournament. The mixed doubles event at GreenState Family Fieldhouse on April 19 gave Johnson County a small but immediate boost against a much larger problem: neighbors who are trying to put food on the table.

The fundraiser ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and asked players to pay $29.99 each for a minimum of five matches. That format mattered. Instead of a gala or dinner, the event used the pace and social pull of amateur pickleball to bring in players who wanted competition and a cause in the same afternoon. Sara Barth, CommUnity’s event and fundraising manager, said the sport is especially effective right now because it is popular and draws a wide mix of participants.

That broad appeal showed up in the bracket. University of Iowa graduate student Nicole Holdgrafer and Joseph Vasseur were among the players who signed up with limited experience but wanted in because the event was both fun and mission-driven. The tournament also drew support from local sponsors including Scheels, Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, Selkirk, Pickle Palace and Micky’s Irish Pub, a sign that the pickleball economy in the Iowa City area now reaches beyond court fees and paddles into community giving.

The money goes directly to CommUnity Food Bank, which serves Johnson County residents and offers grocery assistance once per week. The pantry provides produce, bakery items, deli foods, dairy, health items, baby supplies, hygiene products and nonperishables. Shopping is free and confidential, and there are no income limits for non-USDA food. CommUnity says its food bank distributed nearly 2 million pounds of food to Johnson County residents last year, a reminder that the need is not abstract.

The scale of hunger helps explain why a modest tournament matters. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap data puts Iowa’s food insecurity rate at 12% in 2023, equal to an estimated 385,130 food-insecure people and an annual food budget shortfall of about $248.4 million. CommUnity says demand for food assistance has been at record levels since 2020. The nonprofit traces its roots back to 1970, when two University of Iowa students and Verne Kelley helped establish what became the Crisis Center of Johnson County. GreenState Family Fieldhouse, which says local 501(c)(3) groups can apply for free court time through its Play It Forward initiative, gave the fundraiser the kind of practical setting that makes pickleball a useful tool, not just a pastime.