How To Set Up A Poker Run

Our entire family seems to exist in fundraising way lately. There was the wine tasting for church building, and I have many more ideas for other possibilities! Today Yankee Nib is running our American Legion Rider's second annual Poker Run Fundraiser.

In case you have never picked up on it before, we are motorcyclists and veterans. YB and I are both members of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion Riders (ALR-a sub grouping of the American Legion that is a motorbike grouping). YB has been riding since he was a teen-although I accept been licensed since 2000, I promptly started getting pregnant and having babies and oasis't really used mine (although I practice have a Honda Rebel sitting in the barn waiting for me). For my own safe I feel that I need a refresher course before I hit the open roads and traffic-over correcting and/or freaking out on a motorcycle tin can be very dangerous and even deadly. So at this point I am contented to remain a passenger for a bit longer.

Motorcycles are NOT a frugal hobby, peculiarly when you notice information technology necessary to continually add additional shiny bits. (hmmm. . . . . ) Those costs tin be held down by shopping around and using the internet to purchase those bits-YB specially makes price comparisons between Harley Davidson and JP Cycles, and frequently does Ebay searches for item items that he is looking for (note: anything that says the words "Harley" on information technology normally costs at least 3X more). In our instance Motorcycles are one of those things that nosotros economize in other places to be able to relish-it is i of our "important" things.*

Just I digress. Back to fundraising.

A Poker Run can actually be a very cheap fundraiser to put on. I am sure it could be adapted to different formats other than motorcycles-say a footrace, horseback, cycle, cars. . . . utilise your imagination.

The nuts:

For an entry fee (in our example $10) each person gets a scorecard and runs a preset route with 5 stops or checkpoints. At each checkpoint there is a person with a full deck of cards in a bag. The participant and so has to pull a random card out of the bag and have it marked on their score card and go along on to the next checkpoint. At the terminal checkpoint all the scorecards are collected upward and the person with the best "Poker Hand" wins!

Usually there is a trophy for the best paw and the worst hand, and frequently in that location is a % of the money taken in from the entry fee that goes along with the prizes. (For instance, 50% of the proceeds might go to the charity or the organization running the fundraiser, then 25% might become to the best hand, 12% to the worst mitt, vi% to the oldest passenger, 6% to the youngest rider etc etc. . . . Please don't nitpick my math, I'yard doing information technology on the fly. In our case 100% of the proceeds minus our bodily expenses are going to the charity, The Landstuhl Hospital Intendance Project.)

The nitty gritty:

Personnel needed: Minimum 5 (one-sign in table/double as beginning card depict, 4 boosted checkpoints with ivth point doubling as terminal checkpoint) Optimum xiv (2-sign in table, 1-selling fifty/50 raffle tickets, 10-two at each "poker" checkpoint, i-person assigned to ride "trail" behind very last entrant)

Paperwork needed: Map of Road, Written Directions of Road (on dorsum of map?), Wavier form, Scorecard, fifty/50 raffle tickets (if used) Optional: paperwork on your system and what the money volition exist used for, contact numbers for each of the poker checkpoints and the first and cease signal so you tin can contact each other.

Here is our scorecard. We used a star stamp to postage over the bill of fare that they pull. Yous can also use a distinctive colored marker to initial or circle. I do not recommend using a regular ink pen-it is unfortunate but some folks may exist tempted to, uh, adjust things in their own favor. NOTE: If you depict a card that has already been marked on their sheet, you simply toss it back in, milk shake them upwardly and pull a new card.

This is a fractional example of our waiver form. Annotation: THIS IS FOR EXAMPLE PURPOSES ONLY AND IS Not COMPLETE. I AM NOT A LAWYER. Again THIS IS NOT A Full Re-create OF OUR Ain WAIVER-PORTIONS ARE OMITTED AND CUT OFF. LAWS MAY BE DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT STATES. Delight CONSULT A LAWYER IN YOUR Own Surface area TO Come up UP WITH A WAIVER FORM THAT WORKS FOR You lot.

Prior Coordination:

Advertising. (If noone knows well-nigh it, noone volition come!) Many papers etc have gratis advertising for these types of events, but you may take to become the info in up to iv weeks before y'all want the data published.

Permission from sites. Each site that you are going to prepare up a checkpoint with should be contacted and coordinated with. In our case one of the stops is the VA abode, who is thrilled to have the bikes come through and provide some excitement for the residents. Other stops are quite frankly bars, eating establishments and some other American Legion post. Several of them have agreed to open up a petty early in case anyone wants to buy something to beverage or utilize the bathroom. Our end point is a BBQ restaurant who is thrilled to take a huge group coming in at 3pm (commonly their low point) who will probably all be ordering meals!

Trophies-we are only doing three this year and they simply price about $12 each.

Coordination with Charity-In our item example the fundraiser is being done in back up of The Landstuhl Hospital Intendance Project. They sent up fliers on their charity, and the president and her hubby actually come up for the weekend to attend the event.

Other items to consider:

YB has many boosted signs that were placed up at the start signal to remind people nearly safety gear etc. There will be a briefing given to riders about not stopping traffic (Sometimes when big bike groups get together they will ship a biker ahead to stop traffic so that the entire group tin get through the intersection. Unless you have a parade permit this is illegal. We practise not have a parade let) and some other items.

Since this is an American Legion event we will accept the US flag, the POW flag and the American Legion flag displayed at the outset betoken.

You should make sure that there are adequate trash numberless and tables at the places where you would need them.

Each person manning a poker checkpoint will need some sort of bag, a deck of cards (check to ensure that it is a full deck!) and either a stamp or a distinctive marker.

You should have a publicized time when the Poker run starts (ie bikes can get-go the road) and a time for the last bike to go out. After the final bike out fourth dimension-that's it. No more than bikes tin go. Then if you lot have the personnel yous send out one of your ain riders with the terminal group. This person can tell the people at each of the points that information technology is washed and they can come up on in. They tin besides help anyone who is broken down, ride on and call for a tow etc. If you really want to be well organized you send a truck with a trailer and necktie-downs backside the concluding group in example anyone has a breakdown.

And that's the basics of how to run a Poker Run. It takes a lot of coordination and work, simply not a lot of outlay. To me, that's a frugal fundraiser

*Remember-we all accept different things we believe are important for different reasons. YB and I take care of all bills, college savings for the children and retirement investing prior to our personal spending. Our choices are only that, our choices. We simply believe that each person should take some time to make sure that they are making conscious decisions about these things and weighing the consequences of spending their money-which we have washed. We realize that some folks might think motorcycling is a ridiculous or foolhardy way to spend our money. To them I say that differences in opinion and interests are 1 of the things that make this globe an interesting identify.

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