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 The Press-Enterprise By MARY BENDER Sunday, March 25, 2007 EASTVALE - Changes are afoot in this developing suburb, where not so long ago residents had to leave town to buy gas, do their banking or go to the supermarket. There's still plenty of empty land and agricultural acreage, too-narrow roads with no sidewalks, and only one access point to Interstate 15. But the pace is picking up, and there are telltale signs that Eastvale is turning a corner, both in its community development and in its community mindset.  Gloria Anderson and her husband, Gordon, join a crowd for a night of bingo at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Parent groups support the school's athletics and activities, and the booster club has organized Wednesday night bingo games to raise money. The Press-Enterprise By MARY BENDER Roosevelt Bingo to Call Out First Number Tonight Wednesday, February 21, 2007 EASTVALE - Eleanor Roosevelt High School will debut its weekly Mustang Madness Bingo tonight in the campus cafeteria, 7447 Cleveland Ave., just north of Citrus Street. Warm-up games begin at 5pm, the early-bird games start at 5:30pm and the regular session gets under way at 6:30pm Roosevelt will charge a admission fee of $12, which gives the player 15 regular games. Each game sheet contains six bingo cards. Mustang Madness Bingo also will sell package deals -- for $28, $37 and $45 -- that include more game options. Players can pay with cash, checks, MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover, and doors will open at 4:30pm The maximum payout is $250 per game. Multiple winners in a game will split the jackpot. The cafeteria will seat 250 players. Roosevelt opened in September as Eastvale's first high school, and its bingo operation is being run by the School Climate Booster Club as a fundraising tool for campus clubs, athletics and activities. Each week's game will be staffed by parent volunteers from booster clubs that support school groups, such as the marching band, football team or cheer squad. Roosevelt's School Climate Booster Club is seeking local merchants and organizations to become financial sponsors. Reach Mary Bender at 951-893-2103 or mbender@pe.com The Press-Enterprise By MARY BENDER Eastvale high school pins fundraising hopes on weekly Bingo Saturday, February 17, 2007 EASTVALE - In towns all over the country, the local bingo game used to be synonymous with church basements and social halls. But these days, schools have found the age-old pastime can be a steady funding source for campus activities, clubs and athletic teams. That's the game plan at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, which hopes its Mustang Madness Bingo will become a cash cow on this former dairyland. The weekly contest begins Wednesday in the campus cafeteria, 7447 Cleveland Ave. Early bird games start at 5:30pm and the regular session gets under way at 6:30. "We're coming down to the wire and the excitement is starting to build," Bill Newberry, president of the School Climate Booster Club, told parent volunteers during a Feb. 8 practice session in the campus cafeteria. Representatives from sports and activity booster clubs -- PTA, band, cheerleaders, football, baseball, wrestling, basketball, softball, soccer, swimming and water polo -- learned strategies for staging a well-run game. Roosevelt opened in September as Eastvale's first high school. The 62-acre campus, and most of the town, was built on land that had long been farms and dairies. Hopes are that Mustang Madness Bingo will provide an ongoing cash infusion to help subsidize student trips, special events and purchases of sports equipment, uniforms and musical instruments for the band. The goal is for Roosevelt bingo to "become the major fundraiser for the school, so we don't have to continuously hit up the community ... so all the cookie dough and candle sales can go by the wayside," Newberry said. The Roosevelt contingent has been boning up on the unique habits of "regulars" on the bingo circuit, who travel to a different game in a different city several days a week. Their loyalty can make or break a game.  Vickey Williams plays bingo at Chino Hills High School. Roosevelt scheduled its bingo on Wednesday nights, so as not to infringe on Chino Hills' Sunday afternoon game, or the Thursday night bingo held at American Legion Post 328 in Norco. The Legion game began in the mid-1990s and draws about 80 players each week, said Marty Martin, a U.S. Army veteran and Post 328's bingo chairman. The "early bird" session begins at 6pm and the regular game runs 7 to 10:30. Legion's bingo profits support several youth and charitable organizations, including Boy Scout Troop 999 in Norco, a Riverside shelter for battered women, a Norco Little League baseball team, Camp Ronald McDonald, City of Hope Cancer Center, Boys State and Girls State, and scholarships for local high school seniors, Martin said. At Chino Hills High School, the weekly game generates a yearly profit of $320,000, said booster club treasurer Clo-Anna Stephens. "Every Sunday we average 200 people," said Karen Armstrong, president of the high school's General Booster Club. Their Sunday bingo starts at noon in the campus gym and goes on year round, even when school isn't in session. Even on Mother's Day and Father's Day. Even on the Fourth of July. The only time the crew gets a bingo break is on Easter, or when Christmas and New Year's fall on a Sunday, Armstrong said. "It took us a good couple of years to really get established," Armstrong said. Chino Hills High opened in 2001, and bingo funds helped the booster club purchase physical education equipment, bleacher seats, a camera mounted in the stadium end zone to shoot football game films, and a computerized tutoring program. "For Grad Nite every year, we pay for the buses" that take the seniors to Disneyland, Armstrong said. Bingo duties are assigned to a different Chino Hills club or sport each week, and in return that group reaps the profits. Student representatives from each week's group are required to set up the hall beforehand and return after the game to put everything away. "Those parents have to come in and work," Armstrong said. "As soon as you start selling and money changes hands, the kids have to leave." Chino Hills High offers a $250 per game prize, the maximum payout allowed under tax rules that nonprofits must follow, Armstrong said. The booster club marked bingo's fourth anniversary Feb. 11 with giveaways ranging from free lunch to a flat-screen TV. Many players arrive three hours before game time to eat, socialize, play cards and reserve their favorite seat. "They'll come from (as far as) Victorville and Hesperia. They'll make the drive because that's their day," Armstrong said. During the Roosevelt practice, Newberry instructed his volunteers on everything from what type of payment they'll accept (cash, checks, MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover) to where players will line up before the doors open. Never, he said, make customers wait outside in the rain/cold/wind/heat. Instead, usher them into the lobby and hallway between the cafeteria and the Performing Arts Center, Newberry advised. The cafeteria will seat about 250 players, and deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department -- which issued the school its bingo permit -- will be on hand for security, Newberry said. Reach Mary Bender at 951-893-2103 or mbender@pe.com |