Texas hold’em poker added to list of Unions for Kids fundraising events
Unions for Kids is sponsoring its
first-ever Texas Hold ’em Poker Tour-
nament Saturday, April 14, at Sheet
Metal Workers Local 16, 2379 NE
178th Ave., Portland. The event starts
at 6 p.m.
Unions for Kids is an all-volunteer
organization founded to raise funds for
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. It
does so through a one-day motorcycle
poker run and chili cookoff. Its major
fundraiser is a raffle to win a Harley-
Davidson motorcycle. Tickets are $10
each with only 5,000 tickets sold. Since
its inception in 2003, Unions for Kids
has raised $271,000.
This year’s motorcycle poker run
and chile cookoff is Saturday, June 9,
starting and ending at IBEW Local 48,
15937 N.E. Airport Way, Portland. The
drawing for the motorcycle will be held
at 4 p.m.
The Texas Hold’em tournament is
another fun way to help raise more
money for the kids at Doernbecher. All
proceeds from the tournament will be
added to the overall contribution.
The goal is to attract 300 players.
Buy-in is $50, with one re-buy per per-
son. There also will be a $25 add-on
option. The number of payouts and dol-
lar amounts will be determined on
player turnout.
Blues concert to benefit Oregon Single Payer Campaign
The Oregon Single Payer Campaign is throwing a party
on Saturday, April 14, at the Melody Ballroom in Portland.
The “Inner City Blues Festival Reunion — “Healing the
Health care Blues,” will reunite Norman Sylvester and a
host of Northwest blues stars.
The Inner City Blues Festival was a popular, annual
event sponsored by the Portland Rainbow Coalition start-
ing in 1988. The last concert was held in 2003.
Many of the blues stars who performed in the festival in
the past are coming together for a night of music to bene-
fit the work of the Oregon Single Payer Campaign for a
universal, affordable health care system for all Oregoni-
ans.
In addition to the Norman Sylvester Band, whose
members belong to Musicians Local 99, guests include
tap and sax sensation Shoehorn (members of Local 99),
Lloyd Jones Struggle, Chatta Addy, Lloyd Allen, Sara
Billings, LaRhonda Steele, Sonny Hess, Jim Mesi,
Richard Arnold, Bill Rhoade, Peter Moss, Lenanne
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Miller-Sylvester and Janice Scroggins.
Musicians Local 99 is among nearly two dozen spon-
sors of the event.
The concert will also feature the “Mad as Hell Doc-
tors” — local doctors “singing out for single payer health
care.”
The Oregon Single Payer Campaign promotes reform-
ing the health care system to benefit all Oregonians by re-
placing an expensive and complicated system dominated
by private insurance companies, with a single non-profit
agency that would collect and distribute funds equitably
according to the principle of universal, affordable health
care for all.
Tickets to the Inner City Blues Festival Reunion are
$15 and can be purchased online at www.ticketsoregon.
com. You must be 21 or older. Melody Ballroom is located
at 615 SE Alder, Portland. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
For more information about the Oregon Single Payer
Campaign, go to www.singlepayeroregon.com.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
John Candioto, business manager of
Sheet Metal Workers Local 16, is coor-
dinating the poker tournament.
For more information or to register,
call 503-254-0123.
‘H OUR OF H ELP ’
In addition to the poker tournament
and poker run, Unions for Kids has in-
troduced the “Hour of Help” program,
whereby individuals can donate one
hour of pay to the cause. All donations
are tax deductible and all contributors
will receive a 10th anniversary Unions
for Kids patch. To donate, go online to
www. unionsforkids.org.
Inslee to step down from Congress
to focus on campaign for governor
SEATTLE — Democratic candidate
for governor of Washington, Jay Inslee,
announced March 10 that he will step
down from his seat in Congress to fo-
cus full time on his campaign.
Inslee’s resignation is effective
March 20.
“I am excited about focusing full-
time on talking about my job-creation
agenda and building a new economy
for Washington state,” Inslee told a
group of supporters at his campaign
headquarters. “It was a difficult deci-
sion, but what I need to do right now
is focus all my attention on talking to
people about what’s really important
— creating jobs and growing our econ-
omy.”
Inslee, who is currently leading in
fundraising and running neck-in-neck
with his opponent based on recent
polls, said he made the decision very
recently after watching the GOP pres-
idential nominees visiting Washington
with what he described as a “divisive
social issues agenda” and then seeing
state Republicans offer budget propos-
als that slashed education funding.
Inslee has been endorsed by the
Washington State Labor Council,
AFL-CIO, United Food and Commer-
cial Workers Local 555, an affiliate of
the Change to Win coalition, and other
unions.
Inslee has represented residents of
Washington’s 1st congressional district
since 1999. He served one term (1992-
94) in the U.S. House representing
Washington’s 4th congressional dis-
trict in the central part of the state.
March 16, 2012