More of Our Canada – September 01, 2019

A Fabulous Foursome

Having fun while giving back is what these ladies are

all about by Jill Walters, Perth, Ont.

IT’S TRADITION

W

hat started out as

an afternoon of fun

and games, with a

potluck lunch thrown in, has be-

come 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 sev-

eral times over the years and is

currently Carol Noy.

About four years ago, we de-

cided 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. Ben-

eficiaries 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 com-

binations 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

Clockwise from above:

Washing the tiles before playing

mahjong; the potluck luncheon

all set out; mango pudding

for dessert!

38 More of Our Canada SEPTEMBER 2019