March 2020 - 30

Seattle Stars
City honors youth bridge program
BY ANNE L. FARMER

Anne Farmer and Shirley Johnson
receive Seattle's Denny Award.
Photo by Sherrie Weinberg

A

very special honor came to
Seattle NextGenBridge this year
- and a holiday miracle, too.
2019 was a banner year for SNGB.
Our students soared at the Las Vegas
Youth NABC and came home with
armloads of trophies, and some are
already planning a trip to the 2020
Youth NABC in Montreal. We also
have students who went to Atlanta in
December to qualify in the U.S. Bridge
Federation/World Bridge Federation
events.
To cap it off, Seattle Parks & Recreation honored me and Shirley Johnson,
the co-founders of SNGB, with a Denny
Award. These are given annually to
acknowledge outstanding volunteer
stewardship.
SNGB succeeds in its mission to
teach bridge to school students in
greater Seattle through the hard work
of our entire bridge community. We
have brought in a plethora of bridge
talent to help us grow our game and
share it with the next generation. The
structure of our organization requires
constant updates, unique ideas and
shared perspectives while maintaining our passion and common goal. A

30 Bridge Bulletin March 2020

welcome infusion of new volunteer
teachers and the willingness of older
players to accept the young ones, who
are now playing in clubs and tournaments, is essential to maintain student
interest and show our support.
Upon learning of our award, I felt
very humbled when I realized what a
special honor this was. There is no one
more deserving of recognition than
Shirley, who has taught bridge and run
games at Rainier Community Center
and at the LeEtta King Bridge Club at
the Central Senior Center for more
than 30 years!
Seattle now recognizes bridge as a
valuable part of its citywide recreation.
Out of 26 community centers here,
about a dozen include bridge as part of
their Lifelong Recreation programs,
and we now have brought bridge to
Seattle's Community Learning Centers
through their after-school programs
for kids.
The Denny Awards banquet was held
Dec. 3. Shirley and I were very excited.
Not only was her family coming, but
also our board of directors and other
guests from the bridge community.
Everything was going great, but then
there was a glitch. One of our board
members arrived at the banquet
flustered and informed us we could
not have our annual Happy Holidays
Tournament for the kids - scheduled
for Dec. 13 - at the Mercer Island
Bridge Club. Apparently, the VFW,
which rents the venue to Mercer Island
BC, forgot to put us on the calendar and
had leased the space for a 100-year-old
veteran's birthday party! How could we
compete with that?

With just 10 days before the tournament, the thought of trying to find a
space in Seattle during the holiday
season (where every inch of space is
booked year-to-year) settled in. Panic
ensued, my knees were getting weak,
and that sinking feeling in the pit of my
stomach started. Trying to stay calm,
I rallied and remembered where we
were.
We were in the one room in Seattle
where everyone with Parks & Recreation had gathered for this annual
event. These people had access to all
the city's facilities - arenas, pools,
stadiums, schools, community centers,
tennis courts, parks and playing fields.
I saw a glimmer of hope. Surely someone in attendance could find us a new
place to play. From the podium, I asked
for help finding a new place for our
tournament on very short notice.
After Shirley and I accepted our
award, the city of Seattle showed a
great spirit of cooperation that night.
In a few days, we had found a place
to relocate: the Miller Community
Center, a place I had been scoping out
for years as an ideal location with lots
of parking. Our prayers were answered!
In 2020, we return to five schools
across the Seattle area, and we have
added a sixth. Our partners - Seattle
Parks & Recreation, Mercer Island
Schools, Lake Washington and Bellevue schools - have helped us share
bridge. The students' parents show
support as they brave Seattle's traffic
gridlock and schlep their kids to bridge
games.
Visit our website to check out what's
new at seattlenextgenbridge.com.
◾
http://www.seattlenextgenbridge.com
March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020
