Published: October 02, 2006 11:04 am      

Bingo night to raise funds for community-wide Thanksgiving dinner

ADA — The Human Resources Club at East Central University will have a Bingo Night Monday to raise money to help fund the club's annual Community-Wide Thanksgiving Dinner.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. at the American Legion Hall on North Broadway. Early-bird games will begin at 6:30 p.m. for $5 per pack. Regular games will cost $10 per pack. Each game pays out $50.

The Human Resources Club also is selling chances for $1 to win a 52-inch television as well as a complete computer system. Both have been donated by Ada's Wal-Mart. The drawings will be held during Bingo Night.

Winners must claim their prize at the time of the drawings.

The club's first silent auction at ECU recently raised additional money for the dinner.

"We are doing some new things this year so we don't have to have 20 bake sales," said Sonya Hensley, secretary of the HRC. "We have to sell a lot of brownies and cookies to raise the amount of money to do this dinner."

The club organizes the dinner, which is open to anyone in the community and relies on donations and volunteers to make it possible.

The dinner served approximately 3,800 people in 2005.

"We feel we'll definitely have more than 4,000 people this year," Hensley said. "We plan on increasing everything by 25 percent. It will be wonderful if we get everything together to feed everyone who wants a meal."

Volunteers, from grocery stores and other businesses, to civic clubs, schools, churches and individuals, donate food, cash and their time to help prepare and serve the meal and clean up afterward.

To buy chances on the television or computer, or to make a donation or volunteer to help with the dinner, phone Dr. Regina Robertson at (580) 310-5647.