Elks hold another successful Monopoly tournament
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Harrisburg Elks Lodge No. 1058 held their 31st annual charity Monopoly tournament Saturday night at the Southeastern Illinois College Foundation Center, raising funds in excess of $16,000 to benefit victims of the Feb. 29 tornado.
The preliminary round of play began about 6:30 p.m. Ten tables were set up with five players at each table. At the end of the 90-minute preliminary round, the top six competitors went on to compete in the final round, in addition to the top competitor at the newly-added "high rollers" table.
Genny Craig was the top competitor in the preliminary round, completing the round with $22,745. Ron Ozment, Mike Dunn, Roger Craig, Tom Love, Jeff Cain, Brad Ledbetter, Carl Sisco and Matt Lehman also advanced to the final round.
Jennifer Cain, who served as chairman of this year's event, said she thought they had a successful tournament.
"This year we've got the high rollers table, so that's $5,000 right there," she said.
In addition, The Appliance Store/Great Buys Plus donated $5,000 for the event.
Elk member Dale Fowler spoke at the event, saying they had raised $16,000 from the Monopoly tournament already, not including what would be raised later in the evening from both silent and live auctions.
"The money from this evening is going to help put people back in their homes," said Fowler.
The high rollers table was a big boost to this year's funds because each player at the table required a $1,000 sponsor. Wallace Auto Parts, All-In-One Real Estate, the law offices of Robert C. Wilson, Integrated Health and The Medicine Shoppe all sponsored a player at the high rollers table.
The evening's festivities also included musical entertainment by Brad and Bri, and the Better Days band.