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“Margarita Madness”, “We All Scream for Ice Cream”, “Mama Mia Italiano”, and “Bow Wow Wow”. These wonderful gift baskets– and 19 more– were the stars of the newest “food pantry rebuild” fundraiser hosted by the Ladies of Charity Calvert County on Sunday, October 22. The planning for the Basket Bingo began months earlier, spearheaded by a group of eight LOCCC members who canvassed local business owners for donations, researched the rules and variety of bingo games, created a publicity campaign, packaged the donated gift baskets, and inspired an army of other willing volunteers with their enthusiasm and creativity. Their planning and hard work paid off: all 160-plus seats were filled before the first number was called.
The Knights of Columbus Calvert Council 7870, who have helped us on so many occasions for so many years, donated their labor in the parish kitchen, allowing the Ladies to sell hot dogs, hamburgers, and barbecue, along with snacks, drinks, and home-made desserts. St. Anthony’s Church gave us the use of their parish hall for the afternoon, and the North Beach Fire Department generously loaned us tables and extra chairs. Dave Temple, husband of LOCCC President Kathy Temple, did a stellar job reading out the numbers for each bingo game. Our Junior Ladies of Charity were a big help as well, holding up each prize gift basket before a bingo game began and then delivering it to the lucky winner. A 20-minute intermission gave us the opportunity to share with everyone some photos of our food pantry volunteers in action, statistics on how many people we serve, and our need for funds to rebuild our structurally impaired pantry building.
With ticket and refreshment sales, a 50/50 raffle, and raffle tickets for the gift baskets that were not awarded as bingo prizes, the LOCCC earned more than $7,800 for the afternoon. But perhaps more important, this first Basket Bingo turned out to be a wonderful community event for neighbors, friends, family members, parishioners, and volunteers of all ages. Another one is already in the planning stages!