Helping Hand for PingPong Tournament

Thanks to Ken Lees’ longtime passion for Ping Pong® , homeless people in Hampton Roads will get a helping hand.

Lees, who grew up on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, developed his love of the game as a child, influenced by his father, who played in table tennis tournaments up and down the East Coast.

Now a Lago Mar resident, Lees is coordinating the Annual PingPong®forPOVERTY.com Charity Tournament to benefit People in Need or “PIN Ministry”.

Ping Pong®  enthusiasts of all levels and ages are invited to play. There are events for boys and girls to 17, men and women 18 and over, men and women 50 and over and open doubles – as well as Olympic level, USTTA Sanctioned player demonstrations throughout the event.

“It’s really a fun, family type of event,” said Lees, who is an Internet automotive marketing and advertising executive.

The competition will be held at the Corporate Landing Middle School and registration is $15 per person, per entry.

For that amount, said Lees, every registrant receives a Ping Pong®  paddle, a T-shirt and an opportunity to play numerous rounds, with a variety of players, in the tournament.

“It’s always been an idea in incubation for years and years,” said Lees, 46. While he had always wanted to put together a formal event involving Ping Pong®, Lees said, it also had to be something meaningful.

“I became aware of PIN in my church life several years ago,” he said. That’s when the leadership at Lees’ church, Grace Bible Church, introduced him to Dallas Stamper, PIN Ministry’s executive director.

Stamper, a 1984 Princess Anne High School graduate and former engineer for GE, founded PIN Ministry with his wife, Anne, in June 2002.

The nonprofit organization serves homeless people in the city, primarily at the Oceanfront, assisting with food, clothing, medical care and shelter.

Lees hopes to raise $30,000 with the tournament. “That’s about two months of expenses for PIN,” he said. One hundred percent of the proceeds are going to PiN Ministry, he said.

Stamper said that Lees’ offer to put together a Ping Pong®  tournament to benefit the charity came at the right time.

In light of the current economic situation, “our budget has really been damaged,” said Stamper. “If I had 12 more Kens, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything.”