BINGO for Tatum!

BINGO!!

Friday Night my brother Lar and I went and met my sister in law Kari for a night of Bingo at Dreamweavers in Elbow Lake. My older brother Tom is part of the Lions Club so he was helping run  Bingo for the night. I thought we were playing for cash and turkeys (yes, turkeys!!) until Kari told me a little background story about the night. The Lions Club is huge on Community Service and new to me, the club also have a sweet spot for . . . vision or anything eye-related. Kari goes on to tell me more about this sweet little local girl named Tatum who discovered a red spot on her eye. They brought her into the doctor who referred her to a specialist and after doctors upon doctors, they ended up flying to Philidelphia to find out every parents worst nightmare: it's cancer.

As the family continues to fight this, the community pitched in to help where we could with the monetary fight. Proceeds from the night all went to Tatum and her family to help with medical and traveling expenses.

As I was thinking back on the night, I thought Bingo was a great way to fundraise!

#1: Who doesn't love the great American game of Bingo?
     -- It's a great way to get people together!! Bingo is relaxing, a game you can SIT through the whole game, the anticipation of only one more, just one more. We had a few drinks and even ate dinner while playing. Oh, how could I forget they brought coffee and FREE cookies around!!

Bingo: Fun for all ages!
Here's two 6 month olds enjoying the game!

#2: Bingo is fun for all ages!
     --We literally had a 5 month and 6 month old in high chairs at the end of our table along with Kari's Grandpa (age 75+ ?). What better way for a 4 or 5 year old to practice their letters and numbers and for a 75 year old to practice their letters and numbers?! haha :)
#3: It's affordable yet brings in very decent profits!
     --It was 50 cents/game (or card) and they played 40 games. So 40 games x $ .50 = $20.00 a person. Now that's $20 for only 1 card. Many had 2-3 cards per person. I bet they had 300 people there.
$20/pp x 300 = $  6,000.00 1 card
$40/pp x 300 = $12,000.00 2 cards


Many people who won throughout the night gave their winnings to the family or donated their turkey to the food shelf.
The announcers throughout the night were wonderful and funny. Tatum got up and announced the numbers halfway through the night as well - everybody cheered loudly!

Tatum's family was able to get up and thank everybody for their support. Tatum's dad was barely able to squeak out the words "Thank You" during his first round. When you see the emotions in such a young father such as Tatum's dad, it really hits you. He was able to say a little more on Round 2 as they thanked everybody for all they have done. They were overwhelmed by the support. I was overwhelmed by the support. These are the events that time and time again show how much support a small town has when it comes to difficulties like these. Absolutely amazing!


 About halfway through at Game 20, the crowd started to decrease just here and there. It picked up and more started to leave by Game 25. By game 30, I bet half the crowd was gone. Some of our table overbought tickets and they generously shared so that  we were able to share to play 2-3 cards per person.
Note to self: Next time play 2-3 cards towards the end when everybody is drifting off and leaving!!

Overall it was a great night full of fun and laughs!! And all for a great cause!!
Pictures below are postcard sized flyers they gave out.