October 2018 - 15

Bigger and better

The Peninsula team in San Mateo
CA isn't new, but it was new in a
way this year. For four years, Fred
Chasalow says he was "a leader
without followers." He would ask
clubs in his area to participate and
collect the table fees from any that
did, but it didn't go far beyond that.
He would raise about $1700 or $1800.
This year, it was truly a team with
the enthusiastic support of Unit
498, and they raised $16,317, about
nine times as much. Unit President
Jackie Lowenberg organized a silent
auction that raised $8000, and Janelle
Van Rensselaer, the vice president,
organized a raffle that raised $5000.
Recent changes in the unit include
the opening of a new club with an active teaching program that has attracted a large following of newer players.
It was this group that made the difference, Chasalow said. They were eager

The Peninsula team of Unit 498 in San
Mateo CA raised $16,317. Pictured are Jackie
Lowenberg, Marge Pacchetti, Fred Chasalow,
Loren Charleton and Janelle Van Rensselaer.

to purchase raffle tickets, where the
big prizes were plays with 20 top local
players. "Other than the club owners
and me, all of the team members were

I/N players," Chasalow said.
In Florida, the Palm Coast DBC
made a similar leap, from $1720 last
year to almost $13,600. Russ Leavitt
says it takes a lot of hard work to hold
a successful event, and no one at the
club chaired it the past two years. He
had done it in 2015, and this year the
club asked him to lead it again. "It
takes communication," Leavitt said. "I
stood in front of the club every day for
a month and a half and showed them
on a graph how we were doing." But he
didn't do it alone. He recruited several
hard workers to solicit merchandise
for a silent auction.
The Fort Wayne (IN) DBC
doubled its haul from $6200 last year
to $12,600 by soliciting donations
from outside the bridge community,
Gary Chaney said. Westside Bridge
Academy in Houston also doubled,
from $6100 to $12,100.

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Ways and means

McKinley Unit 213 in Canton OH increased 78
percent to $2625 by bringing in social bridge players.
"While this entailed locating and calling players and
finding them partners, they responded beautifully,"
said Sue Becker. The club's recent move to a larger
building, which a player purchased for the club to lease,
allowed the club to host many more tables, including
newcomer, open and social games.
North Carolina's Unit 169, covering Greensboro and
Winston-Salem, increased 66 percent to over $6500 by
adding a silent auction along with their raffle, where
free plays at District 7 regionals have been a popular
prize.
Boise Unit 394 in Idaho increased 54 percent
to $5800 by increasing attendance at its games. A
partnership chair matched people without partners
to come for the games outside regular times, and a
homemade breakfast spread helped double the turnout
for the morning game.
The Rockport (TX) DBC, a small club with two
games a week averaging eight tables in a town of
10,000, also increased 54 percent, to $1550.
Unit 206 in Chattanooga TN raised $7881, a 43
percent increase. The difference, according to Myra
Tatum, was making a concerted effort to involve all of
the clubs in the unit with announcements and raffle

At McKinley Unit 213 in Canton OH, social bridge players
joined the club's efforts for the first time, helping to raise $2625.

sales. An Alzheimer's Association spokesperson visited two
of them, and the unit printed a brochure to distribute at the
clubs, highlighting events such as a mentor game and an ice
cream social. "We were persistent in requesting donations and
rewarded by the generosity of the group."
October 2018 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2018