Veterans Poker Run and Scavenger Hunt Raises More than $10,000

On Saturday April 26, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Brentwood Post 10789 held a Family Poker Run and Scavenger Hunt that raised more than $10,000 while they were able to donate two electric wheel chairs.

All of the money raised will go back into the community such as the Shop With a Cop with the Brentwood Police Department as well as going towards veterans and their families in need—Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Bethel Island and Knightsen.

One chair was donated to a veteran in need while the second child was donated to a special needs girl who had been using a chair that badly needed to be replaced.

According to Steve Lopez Todd, he had been working on donating the  electric wheel chairs since last year with a lot of time spent fixing them and cleaning them up—one of the batteries costs more than $400. In total, the chairs given away Saturday where Numbers 5 and 6.

He said the one wheel chair he had was a no brainer for the veteran, but then he couldn’t find a taker for the second so he contacted Assemblyman Jim Frazier to see how they can help.

He explained Assemblyman Frazier shared he had a girl in need of a Electric Wheel Chair after she had been trying to replace hers for nearly three-years and there was a lot of duct tape holding her scooter together. Todd stated she can have the chair if they could present it to her so that they can show people the impact they have on people and their donations go to great causes.

“Talk about wow, we took care of two people. One was a veteran and one was a special needs girl. It was just emotional to see that they both needed chairs and we took care of them. That is what we do,” said Steve Todd.

Todd also wanted to thank the Joey Graves Foundation, Blue Star and Gold Star Moms and Assemblyman Jim Frazier for their participation. He also thanked Diablo Vista Elementary School who lent the veterans their carnival games for the youths to have something to do while the adults gathered in the hall.

The event featured a pancake breakfast followed by a scavenger hunt to different locations in East Contra Costa County and concluded with a lunch and raffle drawings where CSD Director Kevin Graves assisted in calling the winners.

Medal of Honor recipient Ty Carter was on hand to enjoy the event along with his dad. Ty shook hands and snapped photos with some of the attendees as a way to show support to the local community.

Here are some photos: