Couple honored for operating charitable VFW game

Members of Kirk-Little Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1108 counted their blessings Saturday night during a Thanksgiving dinner.

Among the most precious that they recognized are the efforts of Al and Jerri Good. The Goods operate the fund-raising bingo games at the post three days a week, bringing in the money that allows the post to help the community in many ways.

On Saturday, the bingo room at the post was formally dedicated in the couple's name, an honor bestowed by post Commander Dave Fradenburg and past Commander Ron Weadick in the presence of National VFW Commander James R. Mueller.

"The two of them have just been so great for our organization," Fradenburg said. "We're very blessed to have Jerri and Al running that program for us. It's just a pleasure knowing both of them.

"We're just so proud of them. This is just one way that we could pay them back for all the time and effort," Fradenburg said.

The Richmond couple's efforts bring in thousands of dollars that the VFW is able to return to the community. The organization has, according to the 2004 Wayne County Foundation annual report, more than $400,000 in scholarship funds for students at the county's six high schools (five public, one private). Indiana law requires organizations to charitably return bingo proceeds to the community.

In addition, the VFW has bought or contributed to the purchase of three drug-sniffing dogs and a van dedicated to Homeland Security for the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Fradenburg said. It also gave more than $5,000 from bingo to help the Gulf Coast hurricane victims.

"It's just amazing what we can do with the money that we make at bingo," Jerri Good said.

"You don't toot your own horn enough by what you do. It kind of escapes us sometimes," Fradenburg said.

The Goods have long been involved in the American Legion and the VFW. Al served in the Army 82nd Airborne in Europe during World War II.

He first got involved in operating the bingo game at American Legion Post 65 in the mid-1980s. After his wife, Jerri, lost her job and he retired from Richmond Power & Light, Al gave up the bingo game in favor of traveling with Jerri.

They were enjoying their retirement when the VFW commander asked Al to take over the post's Sunday afternoon bingo game because the woman who had been doing it was giving it up.

"I thought at the time it would be a short time... I've been doing it ever since. It gets in your blood, I guess," said Al, 79.

"For a while, I didn't even work at it," Jerri, 77, said. "But when it was getting pretty much out of hand for him, I started helping. I helped him keep the books."

With her help and the assistance of great volunteers, they added bingo on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

"This is really good for me, along with the club," Jerri said. "It gives me something to look forward to. It keeps us young."

Jerri has had bad health: a lung removed, emphysema, asthma and a bad heart.

"I feel like I'm really lucky to be healthy enough that I can do things like this and volunteer for things like this. We've got a really good club," she said.

Spending three days a week with the players, some who have been coming for years, the Goods have become close to many of them.

"We're on a first-name basis, and we know all their ills and their families," Al said.

Jerri often sends cards for births, deaths and illnesses.

"These people are just like family. We love every one," she said. "When something happens to one of them, you're just devastated."

In addition to spending time on bingo, Al is the post's quartermaster. As quartermaster, he is like a treasurer, looking after the membership and finances.

"He's kind of the glue that keeps us together," Fradenburg said. "When you need an answer to a question specifically, he can go back several years and say, 'This is how you should do it.'"

"It keeps me busy, I guess," Al said. "We enjoy doing it."

Al and Jerri said they like knowing that much of the money raised in bingo helps youth. The post sponsors youth sports teams such as softball, baseball, volleyball and soccer. The post operated a Toys for Kids program for several years and contributes to the Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots.

"It makes you feel good that you can do something like that," Al said.

Source: Article originally published in Pal-ítem