Successful Toy & Food Drive from Tennis' Jingle & Mingle

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Dataw Tennis’ Second Annual Jingle & Mingle Charity Round Robin: A Toy and Food Drive for the Franciscan Center

The Dataw Island Tennis Association has annually collected goods for the Franciscan Center. Two years ago we introduced new programming that invites off-island players to compete in a one-day competitive Round Robin, while increasing substantially canned goods and toys for our local needs.

Although the tennis portion of the full event itself was essentially rained out, members and guests that signed up for the event brought in goods over a three week period. Gifts piled up under the “tennis tree,” giving Hal Coaxum (Tennis Maintenance) and Warren Florence (Director of Tennis) some heavy lifting to do to deliver these goodies to the St. Francis Center where the donations were received warmly with great appreciation.

“We were disappointed that the event rained out. But it didn’t stop folks from contributing. I’m just always amazed at the level of support for our event and cause,” says Florence. “This directly touches the needs of so many surrounding our Dataw community.”

St. Francis Center is a local organization whose mission is to work toward breaking the cycle of poverty through education, advocacy, respect and compassion. One of their most well-known endeavors is a thrift store and food pantry located on St. Helena Island.