My name is Kandice Thompson and I am the Senior Director of Operations at USTA Texas. One of my initiatives this year is to revitalize the USTA Texas Tennis Foundation. Since the 1950s, the USTA Texas Tennis Foundation (formerly the Texas Tennis and Education Foundation) has been the charitable and philanthropic arm of USTA Texas. As a separate 501(c)3 entity, we provide programs and financial support in order to fulfill our mission to "change lives and build communities" throughout Texas. The mission of the USTA Texas Tennis Foundation is to change lives and build communities through tennis and educational opportunities.

We are in the process of rebranding the USTA Texas Tennis Foundation to bring more awareness to our organization. Our vision is to transform Texas communities by making tennis, health and wellness, grants, scholarships and educational opportunities accessible to at-risk youth, adaptive and wheelchair populations. We have already updated our website and plan on adding more ways to give in the coming weeks. 

In conjunction with our UTSA Texas Semiannual meeting in Fort Worth, Texas at the Hilton Fort Worth on July 8, 2022, we are planning a Gala which we will use as a kickoff to fundraising for the Foundation. At this time we do not have any promotional materials for the event, but we are tentatively haivng a Wimbledon themed event as the Wimbledon finals are on the following Sunday. The Gala will include dinner and drinks, with silent and live auctions, a raffle and a short program where we are re-introducing the Foundation and our new plans for giving. We are requesting donations for our silent/live auction and raffle.