By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A fundraiser is taking place this weekend for the Reno County Veterans Memorial.
"It's a memorial out at the K96 and K61 intersection in South Hutchinson," said Kelly Danyluk, President of the Reno County Veteran's Memorial. "It's going to honor our veterans of Reno County that have served in the military from the Civil War through today, during peacetime or during wartime. We have compiled about somewhere between 14,000 and 15,000 names of Reno County veterans. We're in the process right now of putting names on granite and hopefully we'll have the granite walls hung sometime prior to October."
The fundraiser is a poker run presented by Bretz & Young Injury Lawyers.
"We saw it in the news, or heard it in the news a few months ago, that they were in the final stages of the veteran's memorial and needed to raise funds for the panels that listed all the veterans names," said Matt Bretz. "It seemed like a good project to do. We're just excited to be able to do it and to be able to ride motorcycles at the same time. It's like a win-win situation."
The poker run will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Bretz & Young at 3 Compound Drive, with stand up at 9 a.m.
"An entry fee will be $25," Bretz said. "They can play more than one hand if they want. They'll go to several different sites in Reno County and down into Kingman as well, and at each place collect a card and then the person who collects the best hand is the winner."
Stops are at Ray Ray's Cycle in Buhler, Bobz Bikez in Kingman, Cara's Cafe and Pizzeria in Arlington, at the memorial and at Salty Cycles in Hutchinson. Half of the money raised will go to the memorial, with the winner getting 30% and the second best hand getting 20%. If there would be a tie, the winner would be determined by the time turned in.