It’s Tradition
Having fun while giving back is what these ladies are all about
What started out as an afternoon of fun and games, with a potluck lunch thrown in, has become a worthwhile fundraiser for four women here in Lanark County, Ontario.
For the last seven years,
Daisy Au, Johana Lintaman and I have come together once a month to play mahjong. The fourth woman has changed several times over the years and is currently Carol Noy.
About four years ago, we decided to up the ante, so to speak. At the time, I was involved in an elementary school breakfast program and suggested that my mahjong mates kick in to help the kids out. And the idea took off from there.
Now, we put in money every month and, as a result, have collected in total almost $600 and the pot keeps growing. Beneficiaries to date have been The Stewart School, an elementary school in Perth, and Interval House, a women’s shelter in Carleton Place.
So, what is mahjong? Well, the game looks like dominoes because it’s played with tiles but is more along the lines of rummy, since the object of this Chinese game is to collect runs and sets, or in the language of the game itself, chows and pongs. Throw in some winds and dragons just to make things interesting and whoever lays down four combinations of three tiles each, plus a pair, wins. Sounds simple
enough but there are numerous other rules and challenges to mahjong. We love it!
In the beginning, there were disasters with the lunch because, being potluck, there
were no guidelines. As a result, there were dupes—two carrot cakes, and two platters of devilled eggs for instance—but those days are a thing of the past. At least, we hope so.
On a whim, we all decided to challenge ourselves and take lunch up a notch. One year, it was dishes that start with the same letter of the game month. J for July and J as in jelly roll, for example. This year, we chose 12 regions, threw their names in a bag, and then picked out a name at the end of the game. So far we’ve cooked dishes that reflect Great Britain, France, Scandinavia and China; next up is South America.
Speaking of China, Daisy Au, who is originally from Macau and has been playing the game for years, taught the rest of us. It was slow going at first and Daisy would probably tell you that the easiest part of the get-together was the decision to throw in some money each month and help others in the community.
These monthly mahjong get-togethers can be rightfully called a win-win. Somebody has a pretty good chance of winning at least one of the 16 games played during the afternoon and some organization in the community will definitely benefit from all the fun that takes place once a month in and around Lanark County.
About an hour from Ottawa, Kingston and Brockville, Lanark County is also known as the maple syrup capital of Ontario, but let it be known, there’s more to Lanark County than just maple syrup. There’s also mahjong and four women who love the game and giving back to their community.