American Legion Suspends Bingo For Now
The Okawville American Legion has suspended its weekly bingo, at least temporarily.
The people who conducted it on Thursday evenings want to take a break, said Commander Lance Carr. “It may resume at a later time,” he said.
Four volunteers recognized at the last bingo January 4th, Chairman Brian Telless, Jeff Stieg, Jeff Going, and Dan Jacobs had a cumulative 60 years of volunteer service, Carr said. Telless is a Legion member, and the other three are Sons of American Legion members.
As the Legion loses active members to aging and death, it just doesn’t have enough people to work at the bingo, Carr said. It takes five to six people an evening.
Hiring people to work at bingo was not an option, because the bingo license requires the workers to be volunteers.
The Legion will continue to operate the bingo at the Okawville Fair in September.
Suspending the bingo was definitely not due to not enough players, Carr said. The crowd fluctuated weekly between from the sixties to nineties.
Read more about the regular happenings and how they are impacted at the Legion including the weekly fish fry, karaoke, open mic and more, in this week’s issue!
