Cebu’s pickleball courts have turned into one of the city’s favorite Sunday hangouts over the past couple of years, but on August 31, a morning at Thirsty Pickle came with a bigger purpose than the usual dink and rally. Players who showed up for Dink for Water weren’t just there for a casual game. Every registration that morning went straight toward funding clean water access for communities that need it.
The session, held at Thirsty Pickle in SM Seaside City from 9:00 AM to 12:00 NN, was organized around a simple premise: turn something people were already doing on a weekend into a source of real support for Waves For Water (W4W) Philippines. Entry was ₱350 per player, inclusive of free drinking water on-site, with all proceeds funneled directly to the organization. Registration ran through the Onda Fit app, the same booking platform local players already use to reserve courts.
Dink for Water was also the first activation under Pilipinas4Water, W4W Philippines’ new flagship giving initiative built on the idea of converting everyday spending into small, consistent donations for clean water and disaster response work across the country. Rather than asking people to change their habits or donate separately, the initiative works by attaching a cause to things people are already doing — in this case, a Sunday pickleball session.
“At W4W Philippines, we believe in doing what you love and helping along the way. Dink for Water is a great example of how something as simple as coming together to play pickleball can create an opportunity to make a difference,” says Carlo Chen-Delantar of W4W Philippines. “As Pilipinas4Water takes its first steps as our flagship fundraising campaign, we’re grateful to Onda Fit for giving us a platform to jumpstart the initiative and build support for clean water access across the Philippines.”
Onda Fit, the Cebu-based platform behind the courts and studios many local players already book through, handled registration and coordination for the session, folding a fundraiser into its existing app infrastructure rather than building a separate events operation from scratch.
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“This partnership with W4W Philippines shows how something we love—like playing pickleball—can also make a difference beyond the court,” says Patricia Loren, CEO of Onda Fit Corp. “Through this collaboration, we hope to bring our players together to support fellow Filipinos in need and help provide access to clean water in communities across the Philippines.”
Also on the court that morning was Catriona Gray, official ambassador for Waves For Water Philippines. Gray has taken part in the organization’s clean water missions in Siquijor and Cebu, work that has helped bring filtration systems and hygiene facilities to remote communities in the Visayas.
Dink for Water was a small-scale session by design, but it’s an early example of what Pilipinas4Water is meant to build toward: everyday moments, on and off the court, doing double duty for a cause. For updates on future activations from Onda Fit and Waves For Water Philippines, following their respective pages is the best way to catch what’s next.
