Beach Bunco Bash to raise money for child abuse prevention

Published 11:15 am Saturday, July 8, 2017

One of Milledgeville’s most active service groups is turning a popular dice game into a sizable charity fundraiser.

Slated for this Saturday, July 29, the Milledgeville Exchange Club will host its annual Beach Bunco Bash, and preparations are well underway for one of the club’s biggest fundraisers of the year. Scheduled for the Cordell Events Center at Georgia Military College, the event stands to benefit several local charities as part of the club’s stated goal of eradicating child abuse in Middle Georgia and across the nation.

“This will be our second year of doing the event,” said newly named Exchange Club President Donna Ivey. “It is a fundraiser for the Exchange Club, and our organization’s main [cause] is the prevention of child abuse. Everything we do and all the money that we raise goes back into the community. I would say probably 90 percent of what we support are charities related to children, so we’re always trying to raise funds to help the kids in our community.”

With the help of Southside Tire and Brake, BodyPlex, and more than 20 other local businesses, the Exchange Club has plans to create a memorable evening for both club members and attendees. A $25 ticket includes a special prize bag for the event, food, drinks, entry into the Bunco tournament, and the chance to enter a 50/50 raffle with prizes provided by local businesses (winners of the Bunco tournament will also receive special prizes).

Bunco is a popular dice game played in groups. Players change partners at the end of each round of play and there are typically multiple winners.

While the money raised from the event will not go to any single charity, the club has an extensive list of local organizations it has partnered with in the past. Ivey said the club has yet to nail down a set list of beneficiaries for this year’s Bunco Bash, but organizations ranging from Café Central to the Shriner’s Hospital to the Crossroads Pregnancy Center have all received Exchange Club donations in the past year.

“We’re hoping to have 100 players this year,” she said, not counting the Exchange Club’s actual members. “Last year we had about 65, and we’re hoping this year to get the word out and have even more to increase participation. A lot of Bunco groups come together, so if you have a group and want to come together, we’re not going to tell you where to sit.”

In offering food, drinks and entertainment, the three essentials needed for any successful party, Ivey said she hopes to attract as many attendees that can help the group’s cause as possible. Scarcely a week into her official term, the new Exchange Club president expressed excitement for the club’s first major event under her watch, and said the event will feature better and more numerous prizes than the first go-round. If all goes as planned, the event’s second installment will have considerably fewer obstacles than the first.

“If you remember when we had the water crisis last year, that was the weekend that we had the first Bunco Bash,” said Ivey with a laugh. “We had commitments from a lot of the restaurants to donate food, but of course they couldn’t because they had no water and everybody was shut down. That was a little bit of a disaster, and then a storm came up right after, so we’re hoping for no disasters or water shortages that we had to deal with last year.”

Although the Beach Bunco Bash promises a good time for club members and community residents alike, the Exchange Club president said the event’s real purpose is to help people who may not be able to enjoy such a luxury. Between the food, drinks, raffles and tumbling dice, Ivey expressed hope that a simple night of fun and games could make even a small impact for victims of child abuse and their families.

“Most of us in the club are parents, and of course we were all children at one point in our lives, so that’s not something that you’d want any child to go through,” she said. “Obviously, it’s important that all children be raised in a supportive, nurturing environment, and we want to do everything that we can locally to try and do that for the children in our area.”

The second annual Exchange Club Beach Bunco Bash is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday, July 29, at GMC’s Cordell Events Center. Tickets are $25 and cover admission, food, two drinks, and entry into the Bunco Tournament. For tickets and other information, call Donna Ivey at 478-251-0498.