06/12/2026
A sincere thank you to everyone that participated, volunteered , and or donated to help make this event happen!!!
Sunday June 7th was a picture perfect day at Ocean Beach Park for the 26th Annual OBP Benefit Volleyball Tournament for Make-A-Wish Connecticut. We had 46 teams for 6 on 6 beach volleyball and raised a record $26,259 to help make wishes come true!!!!!!!
Thanks to all the participants, volunteers, and sponsors that donated to this worthy cause to help children with critical illnesses. We crowned a new champion "Smash or Pass" with the Travis Brennan Award, and who actually beat the two teams in the final four that were responsible for winning 8 of the last 11 tournaments!
So many folks contributed to the organizing and ex*****on of this long running and successful event. Fortunately, there is a core group of volunteers that keep coming back year after year to make this happen and make it run so smoothly. Dave Sugrue of Ocean Beach is at the top of that list for letting us take over ½ the beach and a good part of the parking lot. Joe Buccino got the nets up right in time and lined them up so perfectly which makes it such a professional looking event. Brendon Woolrich and Jon Mihalko of The Sandbox, and Kelsey Selig were critical in setting up the one line registration and setting up the pool play and running the competition . Thank you so much for all you do! James P. O'Grady has been blasting music on the beach with his donated DJ services, JPO Productions, for over 10 years now! Karen Jones, the volunteer of the century, once again and for the last 23 years worked tirelessly seeking out tee shirt logo sponsors, team prizes, securing the Pepsi donated water, and most of the donated prizes for the raffle, which pulled in over $3,000 alone. Judi Cox, another long time volunteer always takes the lead in organizing the raffle that was so successful. Wish Family Amy and Samantha Beecham have been taking charge of the registration process to get everyone signed in and out on the beach so we can get started for well over 20 years. Lee Cornish-Muller sought out logo sponsors, team prizes, and helps out behind the scenes making things happen ahead of the tournament and sold all the tee shirts that brought in another $2,000 in revenue going directly to Make-A-Wish. Critical Screen Printing and Embroidery gives the tees to us at cost and creates the logo and donates the printing. Applebee's in Groton has donated food towards the picnic for 20 years running and the New London Kiwanis and Backus/ Hartford Health Care, also supports the picnic, along with several others so we can provide a free lunch to the participants and the volunteers. Jenna and Cole, Danny and Stephanie, John and Jonny, Cam, were there to help with many loose ends, and of course so many others volunteered to help score games, sell raffle tics and tee shirts, and set up tables and banners and water coolers. Melissa Smey of Lasting Image Photography did an amazing job again, of capturing the group shot, teams, players, logos, and all the action. Thank you sooo much Melissa, and check out her images on the "Ocean Beach Park Volleyball to support Make-A-Wish of Connecticut" page and tag yourself and others. (I'll have some more images posted by tomorrow). And of course, so many local business and individuals donated team prizes and gifts to raffle off, some of whom have been supporting this event for the entire 26 years of existence. Lastly we want to recognize a few teams that go way above and beyond, collecting additional donations for their team entry fee; Sandy Scrubs , Spiking It for Travis, Sammy's Slammers, How I Set Your Mother, Lopresti Farms, French Toast Mafia, and The Hot Dogs. Thank you, Thank you! and to everyone else that donated for the team registrations, to be tee shirt logo sponsors, for the team prizes and the raffle, and to help with the picnic !!!
A list of some of the major sponsors: Ocean Beach Park, Applebees, Kiwanis Club of New London, Frito Lay, Pepsi, The Sandbox, Soapy Noble, JPO Productions, Block Island Ferry, Garde Arts Center, Adventure Mystic, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Inn at Mystic, Norwich Sea Unicorns, Critical Screen Printing & Embroidery, Quintessential Brand Strategy, Impact Fire, Mystic Accounting Group, Backus Hartford Health Care, BPU, Flagship Financial Partners, Simply Pharmacy, Lasting Image Photography, and so many more. Thank you for helping us raise a record $26,259 for MAW CT!
Please share this email, and photos with your team, family and friends!
The organizing committee: Tom, Karen, Lee, Brendan, and Jon
