We have a lot of great things happening with the Foundation these days. We successfully completed our 19th program overall and we selected the four Carson High School seniors who will receive The Keri Walsh EVA (Excellence in Volleyball and Academics) Scholarships. These deserving students get $1,000.00 to use towards their secondary education.

 

We have had a successful and productive last couple of weeks. Our D4K Service Clubs held a Beach Clean-up where students from both Mira Costa and Redondo High Schools worked to clean up  up the beaches in Hermosa. Ocean Minded generously sponsored the day-long event with some additional support from the AVP. In addition, we held an E-Waste Program where we collected everything from computers to cell phones. It was a great event sponsored by ASL Recycling, Carson High School and D4K. Money raised will be donated to a teen center in Carson, CA.

 

Our Board Members have been busy as well. D4K Board Member Kris Nishihira from Wells Fargo visited the program again and taught them about budgeting money, banking and responsible spending.  Board member, Sheryl Kilgore (Raytheon) worked closely with the Wednesday Halldale Elementary program, helping it run smoothly. Two other new valuable additions to the board are Barry Hill of CBRE and Dave Denitz of Gateway Business Properties. They are both passionate about helping raise money for our programs, increasing the number of programs and growing the sport of volleyball. We are thankful to both of them for their support and dedication to our foundation.

 

I also had the opportunity to give a speech about Eric at his retirement ceremony at the AVP tournament in Hermosa Beach last weekend. It was great to see the entire stadium give him a well deserved standing ovation for all he has done for the growth of the sport. With all his accomplishments I think that Dig for Kids ranks right up there with winning the gold medal in Sydney. Although we will miss him on the volleyball court, the future is bright for D4K because of all his hard work.

 

Finally, On a fundraising note, we were able to raise about $2,500.00 at Sangria after Eric's Retirement Ceremony last weekend and are only $19,000 short to our goal of raising $100,000 for the year!