Quintin Demps Foundation hosts scholarship pickleball fundraiser in El Paso

Scholarship dollars for El Paso students will be the real prize when Quintin Demps brings his annual fundraiser to Serve on Saturday, June 27, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The evening will pair pickleball with music, food and drinks, raffles, giveaways, and a $500 tournament prize, but every dollar raised is meant to help local students continue their education.

The event is built to pull in more than experienced players. The fundraiser is family-friendly, minors may attend with a parent or guardian, and people who have never played pickleball before are still welcome. General admission is $18, tickets are sold through Eventbrite, and parking is free at the venue, 1633 Cimarron Emporium in El Paso. Serve bills itself as an all-ages spot for food, pickleball and padel, which gives the fundraiser a setting that works as well for supporters coming to socialize as for players coming to compete.

Demps launched the Quintin Demps Foundation in 2021 with a specific goal: help at-risk youth in El Paso. Over the past three years, the foundation says it has teamed with Sun City Golf Company to award thousands of dollars in scholarships to college students, turning recreational events into a steady pipeline for educational support. That mission has broadened as the foundation enters its fifth year, with programs that now include scholarships, mentorship, backpack and school-supply giveaways, youth sports sponsorships and student-athlete mentoring.

The foundation’s outreach has also moved beyond fundraisers alone. In 2026, it gave a college-ready laptop to a student at IDEA Mesa Hills College Prep, a reminder that its work stretches from tournament nights to direct student support. For a community familiar with Demps from his UTEP days and his NFL career, the fundraiser keeps the focus on a familiar face using a familiar sport to build something with a lasting payoff.

This is also part of a clear fundraising pattern. The foundation brought in about $4,000 in donations in its first year in 2022, then aimed to top $5,000 the following year. Later events followed, including a second annual fundraiser and a third annual Topgolf scholarship fundraiser presented by El Paso Orthopedic Specialists. The shift to pickleball keeps that same scholarship goal in play, but with a format that opens the door wider for families, first-timers and longtime supporters alike.