BINGO BEATS BACK BLUES

Gingerbread Man smiles. A mix of Belltowners, espresso, live music, donated prizes, snacks, and bingo, all combined to beat back the blues. For a pilot event, this first Holiday Blues & Bingo launched well at Street Bean Espresso. This was a true collaboration between church and community, and drew a diverse group from the neighborhood. A crowd of about thirty to forty people came together, including seniors, little kids, neighbors from Bakhita Gardens, surrounding condos, and members from the two cosponsoring organizations, Belltown Community Council and Emmaus Road Church. A review from some of the women from Bakhita Gardens spoke highly of the event, and a request to repeat. Another individual shared how he heard of the event at 3rd/Cedar, and experienced some healing as he greeted friends and neighbors in the same place he had been violently attacked outside a year ago. One of the seniors from Simons Senior Apartments recognized us, and thanked us for cleaning his oven a couple years ago. Kudos to Bingo Master Keith Kentop and his Belltown Bingettes, who kept the matches rolling and the prizes flowing. Compliments to the Belltown Bingo Blues Band - Mark Nelson and Mark Wolford, plus Pastor Sax. Thanks Emmaus Road: Suellen, Likkel, Mullenix, and Rosnick families, Addis', Davey Dave, Matthew Rock, JP, Elizabeth C, and Ayres, for joining the event, and for donating snacks, prizes and $ toward Emmaus Road's portion of sponsorship (hope I did not leave anyone out)! More pix on Emmaus Road's Facebook page.