Support East Tennessee’s Children’s Charities with Poker!
If you’ve been dying to try your hand at Texas Hold’em or looking to add another title to your belt, you’ll want to sign up for the local Cards for Kids tournament happening on July 21.
Nearly 80 people will compete in the tournament, the winner leaving not only with bragging rights, but the knowledge that they’ve helped local children, as all proceeds from the evening will support the work of The Dream Connection, a 38-year-old organization that has been fulfilling once-in-a-lifetime dreams of children ages three to eighteen in East Tennessee with life-threatening or chronically debilitating illnesses.
The event is organized by Checkerboard Children’s Charities, a local all-volunteer-run organization supporting the region’s children’s nonprofits with funding and volunteer support.
“We’re hoping people come for the fun, which will include a social happy hour in advance of the tournament,” says Jeff Stevenson, Checkerboard treasurer. “The tournament will go from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. after which we will congratulate the winner.”
Stevenson founded Checkerboard Children’s Charities with three other volunteers about five years ago. All four had been active volunteers with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital—they still are—and decided to form an official volunteer-run 501(c)3.
Today, the organization supports not only ETCH, but countless underfunded or unfunded children’s charities in East Tennessee, including The Dream Connection. Aside from holding events like Cards for Kids, they have a grant application that organizations can fill out to request funding.
Cards for Kids—sponsored by Cityview Magazine and Spaces in the City—will be held on July 21 beginning at 6 p.m. at The Square Room on Market Square. A happy hour will welcome folks in where they will also have the chance to bid in a silent auction before the tournament begins at 7 p.m. To register, visit c3et.ticketspice.com/cards-for-kids.