Women Supporting Women 4th Annual Poker Run is an Outstanding Success

Before the sun rose this past Saturday morning the members of the Red Men Lodge # 149 in Fruitland were busy firing up the pits for BBQ chicken in preparation for the Women Supporting Women Poker run. 500 chicken halves were cooked over the coals and basted with some of the best chicken BBQ sauce in the area. In the first pic we see Mr. Bill Stevenson busy with a basting mop making sure the flavor of the sauce is properly introduced to each and every piece of chicken. Just for laughs I am told that picture of Mr Bill doing anything is quite rare and a good price could be demanded for this photo. Hmmmm, guess I'll have check the offers at the Lodge.

Next you can see the registration tent was very busy for most of the morning. A new record was set this year with a total of 243 entries! There was one biker from Richmond Virginia to the South and at least one entry had an address of Seaford Delaware. I have to say the ladies and volunteers working this event really hustled to keep things moving so the riders could get registered and on the road as quickly as possible.

Bikes, bikes and more bikes. This is just a sampling of the bikes in attendance. Many of the bikes came in and left as soon as they registered sometimes in groups of 15 or 20 at a time, so it was impossible to get a photo of all of them but let me assure you for a a couple of hours or more there were always plenty of motorcycles in the field adjacent to the Red Men's lodge. Talking to folks and taking photos was real easy too. Everyone was proud of their machine and there were plenty of beautiful bikes to see. I took a liking to this vintage 1970 Harley Davidson Electra Glide pictured here. This bike is owned by John Adkins and he tells me he has owned it for 24 years. The bike has 157,000 miles on it and is still going strong. I asked if he brought it on a trailer and he assured me he did not. "This is my Ride--period" he stated. "I use it all the time."

Mr Dave Suiter presents Ms. Sue Revelle of Women Supporting Women with a check for $500.00 from the local American Legion Post #64. The generous donation from the post was made in addition to Mr. Suiter personally participating in the poker run

As the riders returned to the Red Men Lodge they gathered under the pavilion and enjoyed the BBQ chicken prepared by the members of the Lodge and were entertained with music by a local DJ. Many, many local businesses had donated items for door prizes and tickets were drawn and prizes awarded. Following that a live auction was conducted with the the highlight was a beautiful leather jacket with a Budweiser Logo on the back donated by Eastern Shore Distributors in Salisbury. The winning bid for the

Jacket was $250.

The final event of the day was a 50/50 drawing that yielded an unexpected windfall. Mr. Jimmy Johnson (L) had won the top prize of $100 for the poker run and he decided to use the prize money to purchase 50/50 tickets. Mr Perry Willy (R) joined Mr. Johnson with another $100 purchase of tickets and offered a challenge to everyone in attendance to match the offer. In the end, the 50/50 jackpot was over $600.

When the winning ticket was drawn Mr Johnson was holder of the ticket. In an unselfish and generous gesture, Mr Johnson donated the winnings back to to Women Supporting Women for their cause. Pictured with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Willy is Benita Abbott. Benita, a member of the Wicomico Yacht Club, volunteered to help with the event. The Yacht Club was one of the stops on the Poker Run.

All in all it was a very good day. The weather was grand and the turnout was great. WSW is a phenomenal organization and this event helps them tremendously. I should note also this is a local organization and all the money they raise stays in the local area and the counseling and services they provide is 100% free to the patients in need.

Want to learn more? Write to:

Women Supporting Women

106 W.Circle Ave.

Salisbury, MD

21801

Or call Women Supporting Women at 410.548.7880.

Or E-mail: www.womensupportingwomen.org.