Each summer solstice, members of the Evansville Duplicate Bridge Club show their best hand.
A social club for people who love playing the card game, EDBC also uses its gatherings to benefit community groups. An idea was sparked by the American Contract Bridge League’s Longest Day of the Year event, a fundraiser each June for the Alzheimer’s Association. EDBC began staging a one-day Longest Day fundraiser in June 2012 and raked in $1,638 for charity.
“People get excited about it, they really do,” says Pat Probst, an EDBC member since 2009. Her favorite Longest Day fundraiser was a sunrise-to-sunset event that started at 5:30 a.m. “We came in our pajamas — slippers, robes, hair curlers. It was so much fun seeing everyone in their PJs.”
After setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, EDBC’s Longest Day campaign is gaining steam: The club raised more than $15,000 in 2025 and topped $23,000 the year before. Club President Stephen Brouillette says they aim to raise $10,000 at this year’s event June 18.
“The room is packed,” Probst says. “Everybody shows up and is willing to open their pocketbook because it’s for a good cause.” It costs $7 to play, but Brouillette adds that attendees don’t have to be club members to play. They don’t even have to handle cards to make a difference: Longest Day donations are welcome from the public via the club’s fundraiser website.
At the end of The Longest Day, Probst says, the mission is most important: “If we win, we win, but we’re just happy to be there.”
