Community Corner
Lions Cash in Poker Chips for Charity
The event to benefit area causes, held at VFW Post 2179, in Port Monmouth, raises thousands of dollars.
The chips were stacked high for good causes Friday night in the banquet hall of Middletown’s Port Monmouth VFW Post 2179 as the Middletown Township Lions Club second annual Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament laid its stakes to raise more than $2,000 for charity.
“We have a full house tonight,” said Tom Guarino as he opened the tournament with ten tables filled with eager players throwing bets of over 250 chips per hand.
Players had to pay an entry buy in fee for $100, which guaranteed them 2,000 chips and four coupons (including 50 percent off the first rebuy or add-on chips), 500 chips for pre-paid registration and 500 chips for arrival and sign-in prior to 7 p.m., Guarino said.
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More than 70 amateur and experienced players from Middletown, Red Bank and Stony Brook, New York cashed in their winning chips for many charities, including the New Jersey Blind Citizen Association and Middletown Helps Its Own, said Lori Anne Oliwa, president of the Lions Club.
“The event raises thousands of dollars for multiple charities,” she said. “It benefits the Middletown Lions Eye Screening Program, for which we perform free eye screenings for 2100 children in Middletown, Red Bank, Hazlet and Matawan School Districts and St. Mary’s School in (the New Monmouth section of) Middletown.”
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Other area charities that benefitted from the proceeds are: Lion Tamer Third Thursday Lunch, which serves the kitchen at St. Mark’s, Keansburg; Lions Eyes, Ear and Diabetes Screening, which, in addition to the screenings, provides sight restoration surgeries for the needy of Middletown; and the Lions Club International Foundation, Oliwa said.
“[The tournament] is one essential source of funding,” said Craig Finnegan of the Middletown Lions. “Once we started it and found out its legality, it took off and we’ve had a lot of turn around.”
Finnegan said the tournament was not only a local option for poker players to play a hand but allowed for a sense of community.
“It’s all for charity,” he said. “A lot of people (would) rather spend $100 right here for charity than driving down to Atlantic City.”
Nicholas Menture said he heard about the tournament from one of his father’s friends. “I’m having a good night, I’m up 5,000 chips and it’s fun,” he said.
Missed your chance at winning a hand for a good cause? The Lions are holding another Texas Hold-Em event on Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Port Monmouth VFW again.
The Lions is now accepting sign-ups for its Nov. 4 poker event is offering all players who sign up for Nov. 4 and prepay by Oct. 15 another 500 in chips, Guarino said.
Other upcoming charity events hosted by the Lions is White Cane Days, an initiative by the Lions started in the 1950s to benefit blind societies, which will include fundraising in front of local businesses, Oliwa said.
“The White Cane symbolizes the cane that the blind use and we want to awareness through events,” she explained.
Another upcoming Lions-sponsored event is the 6th Annual Auto Show and Motorcycle Meet to benefit the New Jersey Blind Citizens Association’s Camp Happiness on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 1 to 4 p.m. on the corner of Route 35 and New Monmouth Road.
