Fairbury Elks Club hosts event supporting local veterans
FAIRBURY, Neb. -- The Fairbury Elks Club hosted a Bunco at the Elks event Wednesday, focused on playing games but helping a good cause as well.
Attendees were asked to make a minimum donation of $5 to support the making of the Post-Surgery Pillows for Veterans Project.
It was a fun time for attendees playing a fun game while supporting local veterans.
“A Bunco is a dice game; they roll the dice three times and they count the scores,” said Judith Conway Kluge, Exalted Ruler of Fairbury Elks Club. “It’s a fun game that doesn’t take a lot of concentration. We decided to have it on the fifth Wednesday of the month so that people can kind of remember what night it’s on.”
The pillows strap around the chest and can be used for holding a phone, a remote and even underneath a seat belt to make it more comfortable.
“The pillows are an idea that came about from a friend of my daughters who had a double mastectomy and we got the pattern and I modified it a little bit,” said Kluge. “It has pockets on the front for cell phones and remote controls for the TV because they are not supposed to be reaching when they have had thoracic surgery or chest surgery.”
Kluge and the Elks Club has a goal to make 50 pillows this year to turn in to the veterans hospital and keep some locally as well to be used by Jefferson Community Health and Life.
“It’s for a good cause,” Kluge said. “The veterans are rather overlooked and our organization was founded to help assist veterans, their wives and their children when the veterans were overseas fighting.”
This is not the only thing the Elks Club does. The Elks Club said their goal is to help people. According to Kluge, the local lodge has contributed $3.6 million to the community since it started in 1919, $26,000 last year alone.
They are not done either, they will have another event aimed to support the community on leap day, Feb. 29.