Organizers need late push to complete construction this year

By Robert Williams

Editor

The four Pickleball courts in Vergas were built by fundraising and the donations of both businesses and individuals. A new and much smaller fundraiser is currently underway with players and people who enjoy the courts being asked to pull most of the load in raising the remainder of the $15,000 improvement ($8,500).

The Vergas Pickleball Club and Board of Directors, led by President Shannon Charpentier, raised $135,000 from 2020-21 to install the courts. Pickleball was not an easy sell when the group first started campaigning in 2020.

Five years later, the courts average play from 2,500 different people in the summer and have at least 25-30 players daily, seven days a week. A group of 75 regular players utilize What’s App private messaging to schedule play.

“And those people go into town and get burgers and a beer, gas and groceries,” she said. “Now it’s really changed. We’re really impacting tourism and our Main Street and I think they sense it and feel it.”

Aside from more Pickleball people in town patronizing businesses, the effect of the game can be seen on some store shelves, like balls and paddles available for sale at Vergas Hardware.

The initial project was finished and has gained momentum since and that was due to a variety of donations, many large contributions coming from large businesses around the region.

“We had corporations, companies and family trusts that all stepped up,” said Charpentier. “These are people that give anyway to causes and charities in the area. The thing is they had no vested interest and we’d get $5,000-$10,000 from Perham Health and Arvig and these folks. To give when you’re not even going to have fun with it, maybe someone they know does, but to me this next upgrade with the $15,000 what I’m trying to advertise is all these people that are  here all the time that are reaping the benefits of fun five days a week and the small businesses. We were talking the other day. If we had 80 people step up and put $100 in we’d be done.”

The fundraiser is nearing the halfway point, currently at $6,500 raised thanks to generous donations from The Vergas Pickleball Club, a $1,600 donation from Brenda and Paul Delaneva, along with $2,000 donations by Dan and Michelle Bueide and an anonymous donor.

“We’re grateful for those people,” Charpentier said. “I’m just hoping if you’re here all the time and you’re having fun, even $15 or fifty or a hundred. We’re hoping to get this done this year.”

The project includes an eight by 40-foot concrete pad, a sail shade structure over that and a sidewalk around the courts to ease foot traffic and keep rocks and gravel from entering the courts.

“Actually, to date, we can have that shade structure and the pad—we have the money for that,” Charpentier said.

Discussions on installing that first were negated after conversations with a concrete vendor who advised the club to take advantage of a full truck and pouring the concrete all at once.

Hopes are to complete the fundraiser by the end of August to assure construction in 2025.

Donations can be made online at www.wcif.org/fund/vcf or by mailing a check directly to West Central Initiative (WCI) and adding Vergas Pickleball to the memo line.

Donations through WCI assure the donations are tax deductible. 

Other ways are checks directly to the Vergas Pickleball Club with court improvements in the memo line. Venmo is available @Vergas-Pickleball or via Quick Response (QR) codes on fliers or at the court.  There is also a donation box at the courts for cash or checks.

Membership in the Vergas Pickleball Club is optional. A $20 annual contribution is suggested for all who plan to play on a regular basis. The fee helps with purchasing necessary supplies, court maintenance and to provide balls and loaner paddles.

The Vergas Pickleball Board of Directors are: President Shannon Charpentier, Treasurer Ann Richard, Secretary Karen Solum, Vice President Ray Sailer, and Vice President Todd Morse.