We’re coming down the home stretch, folks. We have now completed week 11 of the fund raising drive to benefit Pasitos de Luz day care center. To date, the generous BINGO players of Puerto Vallarta have raised over $168,896 toward our goal of $200,000 pesos!

That means, friends, that with just three BINGO nights to go, we should go OVER the goal. And wouldn’t that be fabulous? I think so. Congratulations are in order. So, Congratulations to All!

As usual, we had a fun night at Nacho Daddy on Tuesday, March 8th. Good food, good drink, (Holy Moly, those Margaritas are huge!) good friends and good BINGOs. Oh, except those called in from the street. AGAIN. Wish we had a way to get those folks into Nacho Daddy to play.

I knew we were going to have an enthusiastic evening when I heard the shrieking laughter coming from one of the tables near the street. Wild by any other name is... Crazy! Our own Linda Ellerbee, well known, best selling author of And So It Goes and Take Big Bites among others, graciously offered to buy the table a round of drinks if they would kind of hold it down and maybe play a little BINGO with us. They accepted and did both. Not sure if anyone won, but I think they had a good time. So, that started us off and running.

And, also as usual, the volunteers were doing what they do... Juan Carlos and Nina (a.k.a. Vanna White) on letters and numbers, Tim and Lina on cards, Robin on raffle tickets, Carol on 50-50 tickets, Laurie on gift bags, Lina on pics (she’s a double dipper) and the whole Nacho Daddy staff on food and drink and an occasional pat on the back for a winner. We had quite a jam session happening.

By the way, Robin raffled off a certificate for one night for two at Casa Isabel - Thank You, Casa Isabel - and a year's free advertising on BanderasNews.com - Thank You, Banderas News. Yogi won the 50-50 drawing and the ad on BanderasNews. He was having so much fun, he didn’t hear his name called for either prize. So, Tim called his cell number and got his wife. That was pretty funny. Doreen won the Casa Isabel prize.

So, the games progressed over the course of the evening. While working on the “Big X” game, someone shouted "BINGO!" kind of early on. The people at my table figured it was just half an “X.” We were right. Heh heh. One “I got it!” got Tim’s attention. It was a good BINGO. Interesting that many folks didn’t realize that one yells “BINGO!” when one has a BINGO. Odd. But, squealing seems to work, too.

Oh. Deborah Brady was at our table. Jams made from local fruits are her specialty. She donated to the prize pool for the evening but also sells at the weekly Old Town Farmers’ Market held every Saturday across from Coco’s Kitchen. ‘Mami’ Jam is the name of her product. She keeps it as organic as possible and doesn’t use a lot of sugar. Very nice speaking with her.

We learned from Yolanda that the first brick for the new day care facility has been laid. And, I learned from speaking with Ginger Carpenter that Pasitos de Luz has a thrift store located right next door to the facility.

The thrift shop has one paid employee but the balance of sales goes right into the day care center coffers. All gently used clothing, working small appliances and just about any other saleable items would be greatly appreciated.

You can drop off your donations, along with any other item on the Pasitos de Luz Wish List at the PVRPV offices at Pino Suarez #201 on the South side of Vallarta. The store hours are currently limited because they don’t have much in the way of merchandise. Spring is coming... time to clean out those closets and further help the children.

Many thanks to all who helped to make this event a success yet again. And, don’t forget... bring a newbie to BINGO night or an item from the Wish List and receive a free, that’s gratis, BINGO card. With four chances to win a game, you might just get lucky. Hope so.

We look forward to seeing you all at the next Charity Bingo for Pasitos de Luz at 6 pm on Tuesday, March 22nd at Nacho Daddy, Basilio Badillo #180 on the South side of Puerto Vallarta.