American Legion Riders host fall fundraiser
(Seguin) — All bets will be on the road this weekend as the American Legion Riders gear up for its 6th annual Poker Run. The annual fundraiser is scheduled for this Saturday in the American Legion Hall parking lot.
Post Commander Felisa Ramirez says the fundraiser, each year, has folks riding their motorcycles for a good cause.
“We have them ride a route and then at the three locations that they stop, they’ll collect what we call beads and then those beads, they then convert them into a poker hand at the end. So, you want people to ride the route and be able to participate and then at the end, then they are the ones who are eligible for the money prizes and stuff,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez says if you don’t ride or own a motorcycle, don’t worry. She says there will be plenty of ways to support the local veterans organization.
“We are going to be registering the bikes at 9 and then they leave by 10 a.m. and then around 11, is when we have our vendors come in and so, we have our vendors participate. They’ll sell their merchandise and then they donate something where we put on our silent auctions tables. So, during the time that the riders are out there riding at 11 o’clock, we’ll be selling a plate lunch. It will be a sausage wrap plate and so the public can come eat lunch with us. They can come support our vendors. Then, we’ll have silent auction items that they can bid on and then when the riders start coming back after 12:30 — 1 p.m., we’ll do the poker hand but the public is welcome to hang around with us because there will be music and activity going on there. Plus, we have the lounge open on the other side that is now open to the public so they can support us if they wanted to consume any of the alcoholic beverages on the other side,” said Ramirez.
Other events slated throughout the day include a 50/50 and 52 card raffle.
Every dollar raised is important for this group. She says proceeds go back into supporting the community.
“Our American Legion Riders are the most active part of our Legion and so they do two big fundraisers a year — the Nut Run in May and then the Poker Run in September — so that brings in a lot of activity and a lot of people that support outside of the American Legion because it’s open to any rider. But, we utilize all that money especially this tail end of the year because we will be using some of the money to support Blue Santa, the Child Advocacy (Center), the women’s shelter.
So, we do all of that with the money that we raise with these big events. So the more people we get, then the more people we can help down the line and then we do scholarships as well for the seniors in the spring. So this money carries over as well,” said Ramirez.
Registration for the poker run begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. Cost is $20 per person and includes a meal. The American Legion Hall is located at 618 E. Kingsbury St.