Doña Ana Community College held its second annual ‘Pickleball Passion for the Pantry’ event.
The AVANZA program at DACC focuses on making sure that students meet their basic needs. Food is one of the biggest needs that students have on campus, said Gina Reyes, the director of the program.
“So, our goal is to make sure that they are successful in the classroom and in their personal lives,” Reyes said.
About 300 students visit the pantry per week, said Reyes. To raise money for the First Light Federal Credit Union Comfort Casita food pantry, Avanza held a pickleball tournament.
“Pickleball is a big craze in Las Cruces right now. We had 33 for the intermediate and for the beginner we had 30, so if everybody shows up, we got 63 players today,” Reyes said.
Dan Davan participated in the tournament. He said he was introduced to the sport by some co-workers,
“I’ve been playing pickleball for a few years. It's been a great tournament. It's always good when you can essentially support charity and have fun at the same time," Davan said.
Reyes said the tournament raised about $4000 to buy food for the pantry this year.
