Murrysville teen shifts nonprofit's aim to encourage front-line health care workers

When Anup Nadesan and Joseph Bonfiglio started a tennis nonprofit called My Ground Strokes last summer, their goal was to teach the game to children with developmental disabilities.

Through a partnership with East Suburban Citizens Advocacy and the Rashid Hassan Elite National Tennis Academy, both based in Murrysville, My Ground Strokes launched in August 2019.

Nadesan had no idea that, as the 2020 tennis season was about to kick into high gear, he and his students would be stuck at home as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the nation.

“We had big plans for this time of year,” said Nadesan, 17, a junior at Franklin Regional, where he is the school’s top-ranked tennis player. “We were getting ready to expand and that all came to a halt.”

The state’s stay-at-home meant Nadesan, former Panther tennis player Bonfiglio and MGS coaches had to resort to recording weekly video exercises for students.

But it also got Nadesan thinking about ways he could continue to be helpful, and a family recipe for nut bread played a central role.

“As the pandemic went on, we also wanted to do something to thank front-line heroes,” he said. “We decided to start MGS Nut Bread, baking loaves of the bread and delivering them to doctors and others on the front lines.”

So far the group has given out 14 loaves, and the Nadesan family has also donated meals to Second Harvest in Sharpsburg.

In fact, the feedback he’s received about the bread has Nadesan thinking longer term.

“It’s been taking off, and I can’t help but see it as a way to possibly help MGS with things we need like rackets, balls, and the ability to pay the coaches — so far everyone has been volunteering,” he said. “So we’ll continue it and hopefully start selling the bread even after the pandemic is over, and all of the proceeds will go to MGS.”