PORTSMOUTH- The Steven A Hunter Hope Fund continues its biggest annual fundraiser, the Steven A Hunter Hope Fund Tennis and Pickleball Tournament, in coming weeks and players and sponsors are running out of time to participate in the 18th year of this important event.

The fundraiser brought in nearly $37,000 last year, which provided 49,333 meals for children in 2023/2024.

The Steven A Hunter Hope Fund is a nonprofit that serves southern Ohio, primarily Scioto County, in 20 schools, by providing weekend “power pack” take-home meals each weekend, as well as eight food pantries housed in various school locations. To date, the organization has given out more than 2 million meals.

1,425 kids were planned to be fed last school year through the program.

“Virgie and I are elated. Of course, we give the glory to God. He has blessed us for so many years with a mission that is our passion,” co-founder Mark Hunter said of last year’s event. “We know Steven would be so happy. He cared so much about helping people who didn’t have the things he was able to have. Through the Hope Fund, we are able to continue what he would have done if he would be with us today.”

Many of those people helping are individuals who knew the late Steven Hunter, Mark and Virgie’s son.

“We can’t say enough about the Daehlers. The tournament was their idea all those years ago. From the standpoint of us trying to feed children, they’re passionate,” Hunter said. “Now Jay has taken over chairmanship, who was Steven’s friend. In fact, we have a few of Steven’s friends involved, like Dr. Taylor Babcock who runs the pickleball tournaments. We’re so grateful for the Daehlers and Taylor Babcock for helping us run this event. We love them to pieces. Jay and Taylor are true friends of Steven.”

Hunter explained that the cost to feed the kids in his program continuously grows, even if their greatest partner, Freestore Foodbank, is a great resource in their efforts to feed more and more individuals. The number of kids continues to grow, however, which raises their budget.

To date, the tournaments have had 17 sessions that have raised over $318,000, which has funded 424,000 meals. The tournament, last year, welcomed 39 teams and will provide over 49,333 meals.

Hunter said that he is hoping that this year’s tournament will raise enough to fund 45,000 meals.

Last year’s winners included men’s tennis victors Keenan Lambert and Mlu Mhlanga, as well as runners-up Kory Sparks and Pickle Carter; women’s tennis victors Addi Lute and Kailey Shaffer, as well as runners-up Marissa Justice and Miranda Johnson; and pickleball mixed doubles victors Randy Smith and Jamie Schmidt, as well as runners-up Amy Hassel and Zayden Rinehart.

“This event continues to be our single largest fundraiser, which hasn’t changed since we started. Obviously, that is important. Of course, it is also important to Jim and Jay Daehler, as well as me and Virgie, because Steven was such a serious tennis player. The only change we’ve made is including Pickleball and we are so blessed that people continue to support us in this mission.”

Sponsorships for the event start at $200. Call Mark Hunter for details at 740.352.5321. To register for the event, visit www.eventbrite.com. To learn more about the Steven A Hunter Hope Fund, or to make a donation, visit stevenshopefund.org.