By Mira Brody VP MEDIA
Editor’s note: Big Sky’s Biggest Week is produced by Outlaw Partners, publisher of Explore Big Sky.
While a brief summer storm thundered past outside, the Big Sky Events Arena tent filled with the energy of tropical beaches as attendees of the Fifth Annual Dick Allgood Community BINGO Night donned leis and colorful Hawaiian shirts, and poised their daubers.
True to the word “community” in its title, the event delivered, not only gathering nearly 200 people to remember the late restauranteur and Air Force Veteran after whom the event is named, but also for a charitable cause—all proceeds from ticket sales, BINGO card purchases, raffle tickets and the 50/50 “heads or tails” round was donated to local nonprofit Big Sky Bandage. By the end of the night, the total raised surpassed $20,000.
It’s exactly community events of this kind, explained Big Sky Bandage founder Amy Vance, that make funding for the organization, and their impact, possible.
Big Sky Bandage is a volunteer-run health care assistance program that provides medical care reimbursements of up to $500 per year to local employees and residents of Big Sky who are uninsured or experiencing financial hardship.
“We get money from grants, from Moonlight Community Foundation, Spanish Peaks [and the] YC [Community] Foundation, and then things like this are just amazing,” said Vance, who launched Big Sky Bandage almost two years ago after seeing a need for medical care assistance from local workers.
“We do say we’re a bandage for our health care system, we’re not a fix, so we’re just trying to be that stopgap. As a nurse practitioner, I have big visions,” said Vance, explaining her dreams of expanding to provide free or low-cost clinics in the future.
She said her work with the organization has helped her better understand the needs of Big Sky community members. Events like BINGO night that choose Big Sky Bandage as a beneficiary, and seeing how many people come out to celebrate and support them, are what makes a healthy community, she said.
BINGO night kicked off Outlaw Partners-produced Big Sky’s Biggest Week, a weeklong series of events culminating with three night of Big Sky PBR on July 17, 18 and 19.
Following 10 rounds of BINGO, the tent reached a new pitch of excitement during the final blackout round, earning winner Jamie Erickson an E-bike and Orvis fly fishing setup valued at over $5,000, and championship round earning Luke Vidor his name etched onto the coveted Dick Allgood Community BINGO Night trophy.
Father and daughter Vidor and Erickson were among a large visiting family reunion, including 10 adults and six grandchildren, who gathered in Big Sky from Florida and Minnesota. While purchasing tickets for the weekend’s Big Sky PBR, they decided to jump into BINGO night to open their long weekend. And it paid off.
“He’s going to come visit the trophy every time he comes back to Big Sky,” Erickson joked.
