On Thursday evening, September 24^th the Millstadt Senior Center hosted a ‘Bunco Night’ at the St. James Parish Center. The event was held to help raise funds for the Millstadt Senior Center which provides a number of services to assist senior citizens in Millstadt.  According to Charlotte Mehrtens, Executive Director of the Millstadt Senior Center, the funds are needed now more than ever.  “We’ve lost some of our funding because of the state budget cuts so all of the funds raised here tonight will go to the Senior Center.”

The event, sponsored by the ‘Over 50 Club’ of St. James Catholic Church, will help to replace some of the over $5000.00 lost annually to the state budget cuts.  Some of the services provided to over 300 local senior citizens are daily in house meals served at the center, home delivered meals, bus transportation to stores and medical appointments and other services.  While the Senior Center has held fund raisers in the past, it has become even more important now with those budget cuts in place.  Charlotte Mehrtens said, “In order to keep our programs going we have to come up with those funds we’ve lost.”

The ‘Bunco Night’ was well attended and everyone was having a great time rolling the dice.  It’s obvious that while folks genuinely enjoyed playing the game the greater joy was in the fellowship and socializing taking place at the event. Bunco brings people together.

Bunco (also Bunko and Bonko) is played in teams with three dice. A winning throw in Bunco is to throw three of a kind of a specified number.

According to the World Bunco Association, Bunco began as a progressive dice game in England later being imported to the American West as a gambling activity. It was not until after the Civil War that it evolved to a popular parlor game. The Association states that during Prohibition, Bunco as a gambling game was re-popularized and the term "Bunco-Squad" was born, referring to law-enforcement groups that busted up Bunco Gaming. Bunco as a family game saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1980s.

In recent years, the game has seen resurgence in popularity in America, particularly among suburban women. As it is played today, Bunco is a social dice game involving 100% luck and no skill (there are no decisions to be made in scoring and a simple set of rules).  The object of the game is to accumulate points and to roll certain combinations. The winners get prizes (provided by the hostess or pooled from the club resources) for accomplishments such as the highest score, the lowest score, or the most buncos.

Bunco fundraisers have become increasingly popular over the years, earning large sums for a wide variety of charities. Large groups of bunco players have come together to support their favorite charities by paying an entry fee into the game, holding silent auctions, and by selling raffle tickets; with all proceeds from the event donated to the cause.

Other upcoming fund raisers for the Senior Center promise to be warm and tasty but not necessarily in that order.  Charlotte Mehrtens said, “October 8^th and 9^th we will be peeling and cooking 15 bushels of apples for apple butter.  We will also be having another quilt raffle before Christmas.”  Keep reading the Community Times for details on those events and others.

Some information used in this article was obtained from internet resources.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

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