THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240242
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Kathy Stieff grabbed her blue card, waved it above her head and shouted ``Bingo!'' five minutes into the first game.
Stieff didn't collect cash for her victory. Instead she won a seasonal prize: a huge turkey and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving day. The prize brought beaming smiles to the faces of Stieff's four children, Brittany, LaQuan, Kevonda and Isaiah.
Stieff was one of 41 beneficiaries of Turkey Bingo Night at Seatack Elementary School on the evening of Nov. 21.
With their winning cards, Seatack school parents won turkey dinners and door prizes. The evening was sponsored by the Princess Anne High School chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America with an assist from Girl Scout Troop 691. The Seatack Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association hosted the activity. Kathy Beeler, FBLA adviser at Princess Anne, coordinated the effort between the groups.
Cathleen McDonald, president of the Princess Anne chapter of the Future Business Leaders Association, talked about the club's decision to hold Turkey Bingo Night at the Seatack school.
``We heard Seatack might be closing next year and they lost their Adopt-A-School partner. I thought it was pretty sad,'' said McDonald. ``So we wanted to do something for them. I'd want someone to help me if I was in the position to need it.''
McDonald and her fellow members took action immediately after deciding to help.
They collected $156 in donations at a Kmart, contributed their own money and received donations from the Girl Scouts and business classes at the high school. The bounty enabled them to buy 41 turkeys as well as canned goods, vegetables, pie mixes, stuffing and Jell-O.
While about 65 parents played bingo in the cafeteria, Future Business Leaders Association students manned a child-care center down the hall. Mike Pollock and Blair Titcomb alternated as bingo callers. In all, about 20 association students volunteered their time to make the evening a success.
Helen Johnson won the second bingo game and Mary Morales took the third.
Morales is a bingo veteran, she said. The 12-year-old seventh-grader at Virginia Beach Middle School played bingo ``all the time in Puerto Rico,'' where she was born. Morales has lived in Virginia Beach for one year.
Participants were requested to win only once. In case they did win again, they were requested to share their second turkey with someone who hadn't won.
``Everyone seemed to have a great time playing bingo. And families who wouldn't have had Thanksgiving dinner were able to,'' said Beeler. ``I'm very proud of my students.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY EDWARDS
Mike Pollock, left, Cathleen McDonald and Blair Titcomb, all members
of the Future Business Leaders of America at Princess Anne High
School, conduct the Turkey Bingo Night at Seatack Elementary
School.
Mary Morales, a 12-year-old at Virginia Beach Middle School and
veteran of bingo in Puerto Rico, won the third game of the night.
by CNB