ACBL Works with Canada for The Longest Day

As June 21 approaches, many clubs, units and tournaments are preparing to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research and care on The Longest Day.

This is the second year of the ACBL’s partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, which will receive money raised in the United States. Funds raised in Canada will go to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

Last year, the Bridge Studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia joined The Longest Day to raise money and promote the game of bridge. Some had personal reasons to participate.

“Not only do I like the link of playing bridge and a healthy brain, but my mother passed away with the effects of dementia in 2007,” said Kathie Macnab, leader of the Bridge Studio.

Playing from the early morning until about 10:30 p.m., the club held nine bridge sessions, each featuring 12 boards per round. They had a total of 64 tables.

The Bridge Studio plans to do more than play bridge throughout the day, however. Macnab intends to invite the public for lessons and sessions of supervised play.

Coupled with money raised from an annual Walk for Memories, the club has raised over $15,000.

The Charlottetown Duplicate Bridge Club of Prince Edward Island had plenty of success last year, as well. More than 100 players joined them on The Longest Day, and they raised $2700.

The leader of this group, Irene Macarthur, reached out to several bridge clubs in Prince Edward Island — even those that are not sanctioned. This year, they will do the same and visit with each of the five area clubs for games.

The table fee for per sanctioned game will be $8, with the third game on only costing $6. In addition to open pairs, they will host a team event and a Master/Rookie game.

However, the group does more than play bridge on The Longest Day.

“We run five games throughout the day, have pledges, 50-50 draws and raffle off donated prizes,” said Macarthur.

The Longest Day is a sunrise-to-sunset fundraising event for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Held on June 21, 2014 — the longest day of the year — the event asks participants to push themselves to complete approximately 16 hours of an activity, like bridge.

To be a part of The Longest Day, you can register your club as a fundraising team, donate to a team, play in a game or all three.

The ACBL has put together a special toolkit for teams in Canada. Once you have registered your team, you will receive a USB drive pre-loaded with a Team Captain Manual featuring fundraising and marketing techniques, ad and flier templates and more.

To learn more about The Longest Day and to register your team, click here.