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- Category: Past Issues
caption, page 9:
Skyward
The volleyball seems to hang in the air as competitors in the Putnam Lions Club's Volleyball Challenge wait for it to come down, back into play. Linda Lemmon photo.
Volleyball
raises
$16,000+
The 13th annual Putnam Lions Volleyball Challenge --- a very competitive fund-raiser for the Lions Club --- raised more than $16,000 this year with 135 volleyball players representing 17 teams.
The two-day event was held in the Pomfret School Fieldhouse, Pomfret.
According to Challenge Chairman Bernie Gilbert, March 17 saw the A and B divisions play seven hours of volleyball. The A division winner was the team sponsored by King Cadillac GMC, captained by Danielle Rivard from Bristol. They defeated the YAMS team captained by Steve Iwanski from Dudley.
In the B division Pobco Inc., captained by Mike Mckeon of Putnam, won the B division. The team known as Corrugated Cardboard was the second-place team. The captain of this team was a long-time participant from Northford, Ashley Joiner.
March 17 the top player with pledges was Kevin Leahy of Chepachet, who brought in $715 in pledges. He earned $100 in gift cards to the Courthouse Bar & Grille. He was also the top pledge earner last year.
March 18 10 teams participated in the Corporate Division to win the traveling trophy. In the final the team of Nextgen Security beat Putnam High School Swat team to win the title for the second year in a row. The winning team was led by the captain and longtime sponsor, Kevin Kozaczcka. The balance of the team consisted of Ashley Hayes, Mike McKeon, Corey Burke and Cynthia Ayers.
The second-place team, Putnam High School, was also the top pledge team for the entire event bringing in $1,135 in pledges. The PHS team consisted of: Deb Pratt, Steven Guilbault, Robert Lewis, Gamson Rose, Erin Williams, Brian Germain, Tom Driscoll, Sarah Pellegrino, Kari Dalia, Tatyana Zaytsev, Paul Brenton, Joe Ptaszynski, Shawn Deary and Megan Droesch. Other teams participating were Kenyon Industries, Gerardi Insurance, Longmeadow Automotive, Putnam Bank, Bank of America, Citizens National Bank, Day Kimball Hospital and Brookwood Laminating.
Matt Gilbert of the Kenyon Industries team brought in the most pledges for this event with $500 in pledges which earned him $100 in gift cards to the J D Cooper's Restaurant in Putnam. Deb Pratt, brought in more than $300 in pledges which earned her a $100 in gift cards to Courthouse Bar & Grille in Putnam. Deb is a member of the Putnam Lions Club.
The referees for this event were from the Putnam High School Women’s Volleyball team.
This event raised over $16,000 for the Putnam Lions Charity account which will distribute over $30,000 to local and Lion-related causes this year including scholarships for Putnam students.