In January of 2009 a group of us that were meeting for a Bible study decided we wanted to get involved in a local charity and see if we could come up with a fundraiser. We all brainstormed ideas and considering our affinity for playing cards, figured maybe would could host a poker tournament. We had all been to numerous fund raising events around Columbia but nothing along the lines of what we were thinking about. We approached Tim Bach from the Dream Factory as a couple of us were familiar with the organization and asked if they would be okay with us hosting an event for them. Since the Dream Factory is 100% funded from private donations and no state funds, he was pumped to say the least.
Initially our goal for the tournament was to raise around $8,000. Each 'Dream' granted to a child and their family typically costs around $4,000 and we wanted to fund two dreams. We went in a little bit leery of being able to reach that goal in our first year but as the tournament started to come together, we felt better and better about being able to reach that goal. Local businesses really stepped up in donating auction items and we started seeing strong registration for players for the event.
By the night of the tournament, we had 88 players, lots of volunteers and all the food and drink anyone could hope for. As the tournament started, we took a small break every 30 minutes to auction off items. Once the 14 auction packages were auctioned off, we let players rebuy chips and kicked it into gear for the rest of the evening. The event finished with Rob Quinn of Boone County Bank as the winner of the inaugural event. We kept a tally throughout the evening of the funds raised and got more and more pumped as the night went. When it was all said and done, we raised just over $12,000 and were able to sponsor a third Dream for a local youth. It was awesome!!!!!
We are hoping to duplicate our success from last year and make this event bigger and better if that's possible. This year's event will be held April 15th with the doors opening at 5:30 p.m at Knights of Columbus Hall. We have space for around 250 players this year and fully expect it to fill up. The initial donation/buy-in is $75 and this includes all you can eat and drink at the event.
Please help us in this by registering to play or donating to the event to help us make the 3nd Annual Dream Factory Poker Tournament a smashing success.
Reserve your spot for the 2011 Dream Factory Poker tournament. There are limited seats available, and we are expecting another sell out.
The first tournament in 2009 was a success, with 88 players raising about $12,000 through donations and a live auction. The following year, the tournament took off with over 250 players raising close to $50,000, which was able to sponsor roughly 13 dreams for the kids. This year's event will be the 3rd annual and we hope to continue to get more and more people in Columbia involved in this great event to raise awareness and money for this wonderful cause.
The Dream Factory is a volunteer based organization who grants dream vacations to critically and chronically ill children ages 3-18.
