CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — The Blue Ridge Mountain Rotary Club will be hosting its first-ever pickleball tournament this Saturday, with Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle chosen as the event’s beneficiary. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cville Smash.

“We feel that literacy is a gateway to a successful life,” Blue Ridge Mountains Rotarian Dr. Gray Heppner told Cville Right Now. “If you can understand and be understood, you can help your children with their homework, you can get a better job and you can engage fully in the community. And so right now we are working very hard to support Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle, because we see they are making an impact.”

LVCA provides free one-on-one literacy education and citizenship tutoring to adults. Communications and Marketing Coordinator Rebecca Thomas told Cville Right Now that the organization served over 400 students last year with the help of over 250 volunteers. 54 of those students passed their naturalization interview to become U.S. Citizens. Thomas added that many students, the majority of whom are immigrants and refugees, also form strong relationships with their tutors.

“It’s really cool to see tutors work with folks that they might not otherwise have met and create this vibrant and deep relationship and friendship,” she said.

The funds raised at this weekend’s tournament will go directly into LVCA’s programming. Now operating without the certainty of federal funding, Thomas said LCVA is now looking for way to pivot away to ensure the organization’s stability moving forward.

“This [event] will go a long way for sure,” she said.

The Blue Ridge Mountains Rotary Club and LVCA had fostered a relationship in the past, with Thomas recalling that LVCA’s Executive Director Ellen Osborne will occasionally visit service organizations in the area like the rotary club to talk about LVCA’s work and recruit potential volunteers.

Both Heppner and his wife has volunteer as tutors with LVCA, and he said the decision to make it the tournament’s beneficiary came down to the impact it has on the community and the loss in government funds.

“We want our contributions to make a difference,” he said. “I think everybody wants to feel like they’re finding a place to get the most benefit to other for their donations.”

Heppner said the Rotarians hope to raise $25,000 to donate to LVCA, calling the Tournament the club’s “first big endeavor in several years.” He said he liked the choice of pickleball because in the past few years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become a way to socialize and meet others while getting some exercise.

“We’re very happy to see the owners of Cville Smash have really just exemplified that tradition of being a place where people can meet,” he said.

Heppner said the best way for members of the public who are not registered to play to support the event is to come and watch the event, as well as participate in the silent auction, which will include experts offering unique experiences, autographed books and pieces of artwork from Charlottesville authors, among other items. LVCA will also a table set up with information on other upcoming events and how to become a tutor for those interested.

“We currently have 30 students on the wait list,” Thomas said, “and so if anybody is ever interested in volunteering with us, we provide monthly tutor trainings.”