I am reaching out to update you on the continuing great work being done here at the Okaloosa Public Schools Foundation during the 2022-2023 school year and to ask for your support as a valued sponsor of our inaugural Spring Pickleball Smash for Schools being held April 28-30 in Fort Walton Beach.
As you may be aware, the Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to support and extend educational opportunities for all students within Okaloosa County. One of the primary ways we do that is through the Take Stock in Children scholarship program, which currently provides two-year college scholarships and one-on-one mentoring for sixty (60) academically deserving high school students from low-income families.
The funds we raise for the program are matched dollar for dollar by the Florida Prepaid Scholarship Program, doubling the impact of any local contribution. We have an ambitious goal to increase the number of scholarship recipients to one-hundred (100) students over the next five years. That will take a significant financial investment as our portion of each scholarship is $3,900.
Our goal in hosting the Spring Pickleball Smash is to raise funds to help cover the cost of these additional scholarships, support our teacher grant program, and promote overall student success through other initiatives. If successful, we plan to continue this event annually much like we have done with our BBQ and Bingo event held each fall.
The attached flyer highlights some of the sponsorship opportunities available. The Spring Pickleball Smash will be a well-advertised event with room for over 250 entries. We are lining up food vendors now and are looking forward to a great weekend-long event. I hope your organization can partner with us to put on this tournament for a great cause.
