NEWS RELEASE

Thanks to the efforts of David Dillman and Diane Senia, the community of Occidental has rallied financial support to resurface the tennis courts at the Occidental Community Center.

The old and deteriorating courts had major cracks running through both courts. The County couldn’t afford to resurface them. The outlook for the only public tennis courts in Occidental wasn’t bright. In comes David Dillman, a local tennis instructor and motivated community member. After talking with a Sebastopol tennis pro about a contractor that gave a good deal on court resurfacing, David contacted Steve Adams, with Adams Surfacing, who provided a 20% discount on the project. David approached the County and was able to secure a tentative $3,000 pledge, contingent upon significant financial support from the Occidental community. He formed an ad hoc committee, including Diane Senia and Gerard Nebesky, to set about the work of raising $8,600 in the community to fund the project. Thanks in part to the tireless efforts of Diane, local businesses and the Occidental community rose to the occasion and donated the balance of money needed. The Occidental Community Council played a particularly important role, pledging $1,000 plus another $1,000 as a matching grant. All donations were made to the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation and earmarked for the tennis court project.