The RISE Tournament of Champions Tennis Tournament benefiting The University of Alabama’s RISE Center was held March 20 and 22 at the PARA Tuscaloosa Tennis Center. This year, there were both women’s and mixed doubles tennis tournaments.
“RISE has been providing services to children for over 50 years in the Tuscaloosa community and as we look to the future we are creatively looking for ways to meet the needs of our children and families,” said Andi Gillen, director of the UA RISE Center. “In the upcoming year we hope to expand our therapeutic services to include feeding therapy and music and movement therapy for children. Additional funds raised at our fundraisers will allow us to create new programs and reach more children and families that are in need of support and therapy in our community.”
The cost per child to attend RISE five days a week has exceeded $20,000. While RISE receives funding from UA, an endowment and has contracts with local school systems, fundraisers like the golf and tennis tournaments are crucial to the school’s success. There are eight RISE programs across the country and RISE Tuscaloosa is the only program where all children needing therapy services continue to attend RISE Center at no cost. Fundraising support has been instrumental in the program’s longevity and its ability to provide much needed early intervention services to children of varying abilities in the Tuscaloosa area.