FOLEY — Bama Beach Pickleball raised $12,000 at their annual Mardi Gras Tournament to give back to local nonprofits.

A total of 274 players, coming from as far as Alaska and Minnesota, traveled to the Foley Event Center Feb. 13-Feb. 15 to not only compete for the winning spot, but to help raise money for non-profits in the area.

The proceeds raised from this tournament are the primary source of funds that Bama Beach Pickleball donates to local charities each year.

In 2023, BBP donated $9,000 to help the animals of Baldwin County. Local nonprofits, such as Willow Farms, a horse rescue and rehabilitation center in Loxley, Stray Love Foundation, an organization in Magnolia Springs that finds loving homes for dogs and cats, and more benefit from this money.

“Other than the raising of funds, it is also good to have a local tournament so our newer players can have the opportunity to see and play in a tournament without having to travel to another city to play,” said the organization's treasurer Sam Strite. “We hold a training session for our newer players so they can understand how pickleball tournaments work and to also encourage them to volunteer to help run the tournaments.”

Strite noted that these tournaments would not happen without the help of volunteers.

“Again, this year, the number of volunteers from the local club made the tournament so successful,” Strite said. “70 different members of the club volunteered to assist in running the tournament and it is this effort, coupled with the advanced planning and execution from members of the board of directors, that makes the tournament so popular.”