20 | JULY 4 • 2024 
J
N

O

n Aug. 4, Pickleball 
for Friendship will 
return for its second 
year running.
The pickleball fundraiser, 
which will be held at The Sports 
Club of West Bloomfield, 
will raise funds to support 
Friendship Circle, a Jewish non-
profit organization that offers 
programming and services for 
individuals with special needs.
Event organizer and longtime 
Friendship Circle volunteer 
Jennifer Lovy raised $17,000 
at last year’s debut pickleball 
fundraiser. This year, her goal is 
to up that number to $20,000. 
Proceeds will be donated 
in full to Friendship Circle’s 
Walk4Friendship, an annual 
5K walk that raises funds and 
community awareness for the 
organization.
“Because Friendship Circle 
has been such an amazing 
resource to our family, I wanted 

to do something to give back 
to the organization in a mean-
ingful way,
” Lovy, 53, of West 
Bloomfield and an Adat Shalom 
Synagogue member, says.
Lovy’s son, Evan, 18, has 
autism and participates in 
Friendship Circle program-
ming. When Evan was 3 years 
old, the Lovys attended their 
first Walk4Friendship. Now, the 
Lovy family is getting ready to 
embark on their 16th annual 
walk, and Jennifer Lovy hopes 
Pickleball for Friendship can 
help Friendship Circle reach its 
$1 million goal.
“By doing a pickleball fund-
raiser, not only am I helping 
to raise critical funds for the 
organization, but I’m also help-
ing spread the word about what 
Friendship Circle does for the 
community,
” she says. “This 
includes sharing its mission 
with pickleball players that 
may not be familiar with what 

Friendship Circle does.
”

UPPING THE ANTE
Last year’s sold-out event saw 
50 players and 30 spectators. 
Lovy hopes for an even bigger 
year. The Sunday morning 
fundraiser will allow pickleball 
fans to test their skills against 
local celebrities and ranked 
players for a $200 donation, 
while friends and family who 
simply want to cheer players on 
can attend for a $40 donation.
The 2024 fundraiser’s 
superstar pickleball players 
include former Detroit 
Red Wing Kris Draper, 
former Detroit Lion Scott 
Kowalkowski, local pickleball 
pro Nick Meyer and U.S. Open 
Gold Medalist Dee Geelhood, 
among others.
There is also an online 
auction with numerous prizes, 
including pickleball and tennis 
lessons, a sunset sail on Lake 

St. Clair and the chance to 
play pickleball with Draper. 
Anyone can bid in the online 
auction, and not just registered 
pickleball players.
More than a dozen volunteers 
are responsible for making sure 
the event runs smoothly. 
“There are a lot of moving 
parts to getting an event off 
the ground,
” Lovy explains. 
“Last year, the response was 
overwhelmingly positive. I 
learned what worked and what 
didn’t and made a few changes 
for this year. For example, how 
we had players rotate courts 
to be with the featured players 
got a little confusing, so we 
changed things for this year.
”

TEAM EFFORT
Pickleball for Friendship is 
sponsored by The Sports Club 
of West Bloomfield, South 
Valley Internal Medicine, Thav 
Gross Attorneys and Hayman 
Company.
“Dee Geelhood from The 
Sports Club of West Bloomfield 
helped tremendously by 
connecting me with several of 
the players,
” Lovy says of the 
team effort. “Dee is a senior 
pro pickleball player who puts 
together high-level pickleball 
groups. She plays regularly with 
Kris Draper, who is a longtime 
supporter of Friendship Circle.
”
However, all levels of 

Second-annual Pickleball for Friendship 
raises funds for Friendship Circle.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Pickleball
Pickleball
 for a 
 
 
 
 Good Cause
Good Cause

Evan, Jon, Jen 
and Jessica Lovy

Evan Lovy and 
Ari Margolis

ERIN MCCONNELL

ERIN MCCONNELL

