For more than 40 years, the Osoyoos Elks Club has been raising money to assist community organizations and worthy causes in town through its weekly Friday night bingo. Since the provincial government changed rules relating to which organizations could receive financial assistance, there has been a sharp decline in the number of volunteers showing up on bingo night. Bingo co-ordinator Annette Star is hopeful many new volunteers will start coming out. (Keith Lacey photo)
Unless a new group of volunteers comes forward, a weekly fundraising event in Osoyoos that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthy causes could be in jeopardy of shutting down.
For more than 40 years, the Osoyoos Elks Club has operated a fundraising bingo every Friday night, with proceeds going to numerous worthy causes.
Some recent changes to government regulations pertaining to which non-profit and community agencies can benefit from the proceeds of bingo events has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of volunteers turning up at Elks bingo hall on Friday nights.
And this has organizers very worried as they might not have any choice but to discontinue the weekly bingo night unless a new crop of volunteers steps up in the next little while, said Annette Star, a member of the Osoyoos Elks for the past six years and the bingo co-ordinator for the past 18 months.
“What happened was the provincial government came down several weeks ago and said that we could no longer donate bingo money to certain charities and organizations in town and that has meant volunteers from those organizations have stopped coming out to volunteer at our bingo night on Fridays,” said Star. “We never had any trouble getting volunteers to come out until the government changed the rules.
“But this has been in place for a few weeks now and we’ve really seen a steep decline in the number of volunteers and we’re starting to get very worried.”
The problem is now severe enough that if more volunteers don’t start to show up for bingo night, the Osoyoos Elks might have to consider discontinuing the event not too far down the road, said Star.
“There’s at least five or six local groups that we used to be able to help out with bingo proceeds, but we are no longer allowed to give them any money, so the volunteers from those groups have stopped showing up,” she said. “We really need a new group of volunteers to start coming out … and hopefully sooner than later because the lack of volunteers has become a real problem over the past several weeks.”
Some of the regular volunteers who are members from the Elks Club have been volunteering at the Friday night bingo for more than 40 years, said Star.
“Some of them are getting tired and you can’t blame them as their now into their 80s and have been doing this since we started the bingo night more than 40 years ago,” she said. “We really need some new blood.”
It would be a very sad day if the Osoyoos Elks Club would have to shut down its bingo night because it has helped generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for various community causes over the past four decades, she said.
“It has become a real tradition in town,” she said. “We usually average between 20 and 80 people and have some nights when we’re packed.
“It’s a good night out for some of the visitors who come to town in the summer months and we get a lot of snowbirds coming out in the winter months. We want to keep it going, but we’re going to need some help.”
The only qualifications to volunteer are to be over age 19, be willing to work as part of a team and have a friendly disposition, said Star.
Anyone interested in helping out is asked to contact Star at 250-495-6227 or Leroy Olson at 250-495-2480.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
