About 220 people turned up for Turkey Bingo in the Chehalis Eagles building on Saturday, netting the Twin Cities Rotary Club $3,300 in its biggest fundraiser of the year and supplying many Lewis County residents with Thanksgiving turkey.
Fourteen turkeys were won at Saturday’s event, said Turkey Bingo organizer Mike Evinger.
“And lots of kids prizes,” Evinger said. “Kinetic sand, LEGO, Pokemon prize. Donors came through.”
The bingo event has become “tradition” for many families, Evinger said. It’s now in its sixth year. Hosted in the upper annex of the Chehalis Eagles building (without the bar), it is a family-friendly fundraiser.
All proceeds from the annual event go to Twin Cities Rotary initiatives locally, including helping to fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which gives books to children up to 5 years old at no cost. According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, local efforts, including from the Centralia and Longview Rotary clubs, were instrumental in launching the program toward its current statewide status.
Funds from Turkey Bingo also go toward building ramps.
In honor of Leon Bowman, a former Twin Cities Rotary Club president who has since died, a team of Rotarians called “Leon’s Team” helps install wheelchair ramps, mostly for residences. The team built more than a dozen ramps across Lewis County last year, according to Rotarian Michael Ervin. It costs between $750 and $2,500 to build a ramp, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.
While the construction of the ramps used to happen about two or three times per year, Ervin said, the program has grown immensely. He would encourage anyone to donate to the Twin Cities Rotary Foundation if they are interested in helping. Volunteers are also valuable, he said, and before a project, the team will call on as many as they can gather.
Turkey Bingo is hosted by state Rep. Peter Abbarno and Bruce Kimsey, an agent with Century 21 Lund Realtors, who come strapped with jokes about “I used to B10” or “I8 lunch before I came here.”
Learn more about Twin Cities Rotary at https://www.twincitiesrotary.com/index.php.
