WHAT BINGO SESSIONS MEAN TO FENCING ...

As you are aware, approximately once per month the fencing community needs to provide 7 volunteers to work a bingo at the Casinos in Winnipeg. The Manitoba Fencing Association has been working these bingos for many years.

The number of people needed from each club can be up to 2 but is usually 1.

The bingos can be on any day of the week and at any time. We have no say in the schedule issued by the Lotteries people (WCLC).

At one time we needed to provide 10 volunteers per bingo and there was some difficulty getting all 10 people we needed. Well, the WCLC reduced the number to 7 volunteers. Hey, this will be great! We still get the same amount of money and we should have no problem getting 7 people out to work a bingo. Well, think again.

We had two bingo sessions in July/09. The first we had to call in an extra person and an unscheduled volunteer but still only managed to get 6 people. The second bingo we had only 4 people out. Need I say that the bingo coordinator for the casino was not impressed.

I realize that the times and days for the bingos may not be optimal, but we need volunteers regardless, to meet our commitment. Unfortunately people seem to think that the approximately $2000 a year the clubs get from the bingos is not significant, but it is. If this income was not available to the clubs, the club fees would have to rise to make up the shortfall. This may not be a great hardship when spread out amongst all of the club members, but who wants to pay extra?

What you may not realize is the impact on the big picture. As you may have seen from the financial information sent from the MFA, each year the MFA receives a total of $24,000 from the bingos we work. This is a very significant and important source of financial support for our organization. These funds are not a hand-out or a grant. We only get this money if we work the bingos we are assigned. If we, as an organization, cannot meet our volunteer commitment, we will lose the bingos and, of course, the funding.

To put this into perspective, MFA receives $24,000 from WCLC per year. Our Fencing Centre costs us about $20,000 per year. Now if we lose the bingo funds, do the math; we could see the end of having a fencing centre for training our advanced and competitive fencers. Oh, but it doesn't end there. Without a fencing centre, we will have no place for our athletes to train and then we will no longer need or will be able to keep a provincial coach. On the other hand, without a fencing centre and provincial coach to support, our expenses will fall considerably. Of course without a high-level athlete program, funding from other sources will disappear. The effects of this significant loss in funding will have very grave effects on our sport in Manitoba. What we may be left with is only one or two clubs offering casual, hobby fencing that costs a lot to provide.

In 2008, our Canadian athletes did not earn any medals on the first week of the summer olympics. Much of that has to do with the pathetic financial support our olympians receive. Remember the public reaction? Our government poorly funds our athletes as compared to the support other countries give to their athletes. All that aside, if we cannot step up to work a bingo or two a year to support ourselves, and bring in the financial support that comes out of this easy, mindless task, then we have no moral grounds to criticize the inadequate public funding of our athletes.

Other avenues of funding our organization are being explored, but until we have more consistent funding, we have to make the best use of the funding opportunities we already have in place.

When you see the bingo schedule on the website or in your e-mail, please seriously think about volunteering.


This is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Lightning Fencing Club or its Members. -Alan McCracken