Drop Dink Donate Life Tournament Raises Funds For Living Organ Donor Support In Knoxville
USA: A first annual Drop Dink Donate Life pickleball event at the Pickleball Playground in Knoxville turned sport into spectacle as players, transplant recipients and living donor advocates gathered to raise money for the Meredith Haga Foundation. Organizers said the fundraiser is aimed squarely at helping people navigate the living organ donor process and promoting organ transplantation as an attainable second chance for those on waiting lists. The courts were alive with competition and community, transforming a recreational weekend into a platform for donor advocacy.
The tournament was created in memory of Meredith Haga, who worked with the hosts and tragically died after a transplant earlier in her life. Her foundation now channels funds toward counseling, logistics and financial support for people seeking living donors. For many attendees, the visible presence of recipients playing and thriving after transplantation became the most compelling message of the day: a public demonstration that transplantation can restore daily life and bring winners off the operating table and back onto the court.
Participants described the event as more than fundraising — a communal lifeline that offers emotional relief and tangible help to those in donor processes. Organ recipients served as living proof that someone’s donation can change the arc of another person’s life, and players said seeing those recoveries fuels hope for people still waiting. The tournament raised awareness, strengthened peer bonds among donors, recipients and families, and reinforced the foundation’s mission to make the living donor pathway more navigable.
By turning pickleball into a vivid staging ground for advocacy, organizers pushed transplant conversation into the mainstream and underscored the urgent, ongoing need for living donors to step forward and for communities to support them.
To learn more about the Meredith Haga Foundation click here.
Video originally published on 2026-02-01 18:34:32
LIVING DONOR GUIDANCE
If this story involves a need for a living donor and you are interested in exploring giving the Gift Of Life to that person, or you just want to explore living donation for someone in need, click below to get started.
Or copy and paste this link into your browser:
https://nkr.donorscreen.org/register/now?src=txpnews
For reference, copy and save this story’s URL in the address bar if you are exploring donating to the person featured.
Thank you for considering becoming a living donor and giving the Gift Of Life. 💚
All potential donors undergo medical evaluation to determine eligibility.
