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WILKES-BARRE — They came for the cause.
They came for the purses.
Plus, they came for that excited feeling you get when you’ve filled in four squares on your card and you’re hoping the caller will announce one final number so you can shout, “Bingo!”
“I just said, I needed one more,” Shelley Jones of Laflin said happily as a volunteer confirmed Jones did, indeed, with five correct numbers in a row, win a designer purse.
“I have three daughters,” Jones said, hinting one of them might soon be carrying a designer handbag.
Organizers gave away 25 such purses, designed by Coach, Michael Kors, Dooney & Bourke, Vera Bradley or Kate Spade during a recent Sunday afternoon Designer Bingo at St. Andrew’s Church Hall on Parrish Street.
Similar fashion-conscious fund-raisers are held frequently around the region to benefit churches, schools and charities. The Designer Bingo at St. Andrew’s was organized by the Jonathan Grula Memorial Foundation to benefit children with cancer and pediatric cancer research through the Four Diamonds Fund.
Established in memory of Jonathan Grula, who passed away just as he was about to start seventh grade in September 1999, the Foundation has raised more than $300,000 for the Four Diamonds Fund.
Last year’s Designer Bingo added $12,000 to the amount.
“This is so well organized,” bingo player Bonnie Kunkle of Orange said as she surveyed a room filled with scurrying volunteers, 200 guests, raffle baskets and a bake sale. Jonathan Grula’s dad, Bob Grula, was in the kitchen with other culinary-minded men dishing out halushki, pasta and meatballs for those who wanted a heartier snack.
“There’s a scratch-off lottery ticket inside every purse. We’d be happy to accept it back as a donation,” Jonathan’s mom, Karen Grula, announced with a smile as she walked through the crowded hall with a microphone.
Her public persona was cheerful and upbeat, but as she paused by a photo of her son, she admitted it’s difficult to host the foundation’s fundraisers, which have included golf tournaments and spaghetti dinners as well as bingos.
“The reason we’re here doing this is because he’s not here,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes.
“He wanted to be a heart surgeon,” she added. “Always a heart surgeon. Even when he was diagnosed with leukemia and the doctors suggested he might want to study oncology, he still wanted to be a heart surgeon.”
“He was a sweet little guy, always happy, always smiling,” said bingo volunteer Debbie Potsko, who taught at the former St. Boniface Elementary School when Jonathan was a student there.
“They’re always saying they’re getting so close to a cure. Hopefully someday soon they’re gonna say, ‘That’s it. No more children will die of cancer,’ ” Karen Grula said before turning her attention back to the game.
“G-51 … B-8 … B-13 … G-42 …”
Players listened attentively as, one by one, caller Bill Kushner, who is Karen Grula’s brother, announced the numbers. The mostly female crowd included a senior citizen who brought her oxygen tank, a teen with a baseball bat who may have had to leave early to play ball and a few visitors from out of town.
Cherie Soprano of Las Vegas, Nevada, may have been the bingo player who traveled the greatest distance. She was in town to spend time with her mom, JoAnne Capinas of Wilkes-Barre, who just turned 70.
