Serve & Play Day 2024
Date: September 21, 2024
Location: Menlo Park, California
Thank you to everyone who supported our Serve and Play Day in collaboration with Pepino!
Pepino is a brand based out of the San Francisco Bay Area whose goal is to build community through the sport of pickleball.
Pepino was started by one of our HFK alumni - Marcelino Perez! Marcelino first served with HFK in 2015, and was recently part of our inaugural trip to Colombia in July 2024. He will be one of the Team Captains for HFK’s next trip to Colombia in June 2025!
HFK and Pepino joined forces to offer a Local Service Opportunity for those in the Bay Area. We gathered at Phillips Brooks School in Menlo Park to help clean up a dog park attached to the school. After completing the clean up, participants were invited to stay and play some pickleball!
In preparation for the event, we set up the service area with gardening tools, gloves, and bags and the play area with pickleball courts, lines, and paddles. When the participants started to arrive, we did a quick welcome and got straight to work! With 20 volunteers, we made great progress in clearing up brush and trash in the dog park.
While cleaning up and transitioning to the “Play” portion of the day, Marcelino and Diego, our Executive Director, gave an introduction to the partnership and shared ways people can stay involved. They also picked names for the raffle which awarded two lucky winners with HFK and Pepino swag including water bottle, hats, shirts, stickers, and snacks from some of our partner countries.
The courts were then open for all to play! Having three courts allowed everyone to choose between competitive play, recreational play, and Pickleball Foursquare. This was a fun time where people switched between the courts to play with various people.
As pickleball wrapped up, some people helped clean up and stayed to mingle with the new friends they had made throughout the day. Overall, this collab event gave people a small taste of what serving on an HFK International Service Trip is like = serve, play, and connect!
Thank you again to Pepino and all the volunteers who joined us! You can learn more about Here For Kids International here and see our upcoming International Service Trips here.
