Several weeks ago at the Wings and Wheels show at the Commemorative Air Force Museum, we met a young woman at a booth for an organization called Military Assistance Mission. The cause struck a chord with me. This group helps active duty and reserve enlisted service members and their families. I’ve experienced that need (and assistance) first hand and now that I have more than two pennies to rub together, I feel a keen desire to pay it forward.
Last night we attended one of “MAM’s” regular fundraisers … a casino night with a 20s theme called Flappers and Freedom. WHAT FUN! I’d never been to a casino night so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We arrived, dropped off our seasonal donation of unwrapped toys and stepped back in time.
Before the casino action kicked off, there was a fundraising auction. With the cause in mind, I raised my paddle as the cost of a particular item rose, then received cheers from the room as I cast the winning bid! Feeling good, I watched others do the same.
In keeping with the theme, the bar featured 20s-era cocktails to keep everyone refreshed while they visited the tables to spend (and hopefully increase) their cache of chips.
I’m not a gambler, but fortunately the croupiers were patient and even entertaining as they explained the betting choices on the craps table. We spent a little of our credit money before moving on to try our hands at Blackjack.
That’s where the money was! Greg and me, and our friends Vikki and Keith, watched our piles of chips grow as lady luck smiled down on us. The goal was to amass chips to exchange for raffle tickets for a bounty of options to be awarded at the end of the night.
By the end of the night we were able to throw a huge stack of tickets into the buckets for a try at a raffle basket … and we WON!! Between the four of us, we went home with three of the baskets and a mountain of swag And memories just for helping this cause raise money to help the brave men and women of our military who need it the most.
I’m so grateful for organizations like MAM. It brings me great joy to be in a position to give back and know my donation shows those men and women who protect our freedom that we’ve got their backs.
There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. Give back to a cause you feel strongly about whenever you can.
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