Linda Durkee ~ Pickleball Club Outstanding Volunteer Service Award ~ First Quarter 2018

Linda has lived in Sun City Grand for 8 years and has been an active member of the Pickleball Club for six of those years. She is busy running her own business, and yet, she always finds time to volunteer to support the Club. Linda has successfully managed and coordinated 14 large Club parties over the last five years. You can image how much work and time it takes to collect the money, schedule the band, create a seating diagram for each event, make sure the food is ordered correctly and delivered on-time and special orders if needed. And there is the matter of room decorations (many she has made herself) and scheduling volunteers for the function to run smoothly. Here are a few of the parties and events many of us have enjoyed over the years because of Linda’s dedication to the club: Four Fall Flings, four Holiday Parties in December, two Spring Fling’s, three Oktoberfest’s, and the 60‘s party in 2016.

In May 2016, because of Linda’s efforts, the Grand Pickleball Club was chosen to represent the State of Arizona for “National Red Nose Day.” On May 26th, 2016, our Club was featured on the NBC “Red Nose Day Special” seen nationwide. Linda also developed a Club outreach program to teach Pickleball to children in the Dysart School system. There were two programs: one for Dysart children’s summer camp and one for Dysart’s after-school program.

Linda has volunteered for and/or managed Club Fundraisers such as; The Luke Air Force Base Fundraiser “Pay to Play” event and the Play with A Pro “Soldiers Best Friend” in December 2017. She organized the PB Club Christmas charity “Luke Adopt- A-Family Program” for two years and manages “Toys for Tots” with Marines on behalf of the Club.

Linda, we want you to know how much we appreciate your dedication to the Club over the last 6 years. On behalf of the Board and the Club we want to thank you for your hard work and let you know that your contributions have not gone unnoticed.