In a collaborative effort from four Humble ISD schools, the DECA club organized a community event at the Pickleball Zone on Nov. 8 to raise awareness and funds for the chapters. Together, the clubs collectively raised over $1,000 through entry fees and raffle tickets alone, while earning even more money through other means.

“The idea for our ‘Texas Two Step’ at the Pickleball Zone is directly tied to DECA’s campaign systems — specifically the Texas Two Step, which requires your DECA chapter to collaborate with another DECA chapter for a social and community service event,” senior and DECA President Krish Bharwani said. “We took it a step further by joining forces with all of the DECA chapters within our district: Kingwood, Summer Creek and K-Park.”

The community night took place at the Pickleball Zone, an indoor pickleball business, complete with 10 courts, a golf simulator, a bar and a patio.

“The impact that the event had on me was amazing,” Pickleball Zone owner Tony Bender said. “I thought it was neat to see a group of young business entrepreneurs put something together that was so successful. They had lots of fun and got lots of new folks involved and understanding what DECA is.”

Student officers of the various chapters were tasked with different responsibilities to make the event happen, such as supplying the DJ, photographer, MC and more.

“The event was largely student-driven, with our officers leading discussions and planning details, while the advisors guided, supported and finalized logistics,” DECA Sponsor Darlene Wall said. “It was a balanced collaboration, but [it had] strong student leadership at the center.”

In addition to the free-play pickleball and golf simulator, the event also included a food truck, a DECA-themed mocktail and a raffle. The raffle included big-ticket items such as ticket to a Houston Texans game, AirPods and a Keurig, with prizes being worth over $800.

“I’m excited by the number of people that attended; the facility was huge, yet the courts were all full,” Bharwani said. “Students challenged kids from other schools to matches, and our raffles got really loud with cheers from winners and the audience they collected.”

In addition to the proceeds helping the DECA chapters, they also helped Bender’s nonprofit organization: “Addi’s Faith.”

“Addi’s Faith Foundation is a local nonprofit that my wife Amber and I started over 18 years ago after the passing of our daughter Addison Faith,” Bender said. “She suffered from brain cancer and dealt with many hardships along the way. Addi’s Faith Foundation raises money to help families that have a child diagnosed with cancer.”

“Addi’s Faith” also donates research funding to MD Anderson Cancer Center to help further the attempts at finding a cure to brain cancer.

“It was great to have all of the kids of DECA be a part of this so that they can learn more about Addi’s Faith Foundation and what it means to give in the community,” Bender said. “As business owners in the community, we feel very honored that the DECA club would want to be a partner in this event. It was a blessing to be able to help in any way that we could and to see these young entrepreneurs trying to make a difference.”