BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month, WBZ Cares profiles the Sportsmen's Tennis and Enrichment Center, an organization aimed at leveraging tennis to open doors of opportunity for youth in some of Boston’s most under-served communities.
For Boston attorney Lindsey Daschiell, being involved with the Sportsmen's Tennis and Enrichment Center has been a family affair.
"My parents used to be on the board," she said.
Daschiell's father used to play at the center. Years later, she followed in her dad's footsteps, taking tennis lessons. She excelled at the game and now sits on their board of directors.
"It feels strange because every time I walk in here, I feel like a child of this club. And I am walking in here as an adult and not going on the court even, I am going to a board meeting, it’s a fun 180 in terms of the contribution that I can give," she said.
Fellow board member Marilyn Anderson Chase started playing tennis at Sportsmen's in the 1970s, when racial tensions were high in Boston. She has always found the club to be a shelter in the storm.
"Through all of the turmoil that has existed in Boston one of the things that continues to be true is that Sportsmen is and has always been a place of diversity, where both kids and adults will intermingle with people they might not meet in their regular course of lives, in their own neighborhood," Anderson Chase said.
Julie Ann Bridgeman volunteers as co-chair of the Sportsmen's Ball, the organization's largest fundraiser.
"A lot of going out and finding sponsors, renewing sponsors, finding new ones," she said.
Bridgeman started volunteering seven years ago, when her son went off to college. He learned to play tennis at the club as a middle school student. Because of all the joy Sportsmen's gave to him, Julie Ann decided it was time to give back.
" I come in the same way my son did and feel energized," she said. "So many different kinds of people, races, socioeconomic groups, and they all come together. You don’t see anyone other than through the lens of their commitment to others."
For more information visit sportsmenstennis.org or WBZ Cares during the month of November.