From left to right: Michelle Pease and Laurie Pillen of the Community Action Network, Small Business Bingo Founder Ashley Patrick, and Dennis Orlikowski and Joe Drought of Rochelle VFW Post 3878. (Jeff Helfrich)
A Small Business Bingo event held Thursday, Nov. 6, at Flight Deck Bar & Grill in Rochelle saw over 300 attendees and raised $5,710 to be split between the Community Action Network and Rochelle VFW Post 3878, event organizer and AP Massage Therapy owner Ashley Patrick said.
Patrick came up with the idea of bingo nights in the community with prizes donated by local businesses to raise money for area nonprofits in 2023. Attendance in past years has numbered in the hundreds with over a dozen nonprofits benefiting. Small Business Bingo has raised a total of $42,250.
“Things went the smoothest that they ever have,” Patrick said. “I had a lot of really good help this morning and we were able to get set up quickly. Tonight was a well-oiled machine. Everyone and our volunteers know where they need to be and what they need to do. We just keep growing in numbers and the crowds keep getting bigger and we’ve handled that well.”
The event set records for funds raised and attendees, Patrick said. Nov. 6 also saw raffles and a toy drive for CAN’s Christmas Shopping Trip for those in need on Dec. 11.
“Breaking records really makes me feel like the sky is the limit with this,” Patrick said. “The community continues to support it and donate and show up. I’m happy to put in the work and do this as long as people are willing to keep supporting it.”
Patrick said she was excited to help two more nonprofits and is hoping to help more in the future. She thanked the community for its support, which has included prize donations, attendees and volunteers.
“The community’s support is overwhelming in the best way,” Patrick said. “It makes me pretty emotional to see the feedback I get from everyone and knowing that people are showing up and having a good time and are happy to volunteer and donate. Having the business community so involved gives me an amazing feeling.”
The Small Business Bingo event was the first of the season and the first in 10 months. Eight of the events were previously held over 17 months. Patrick said she was impressed by the turnout after a long layoff.
Small Business Bingo’s second and final event of its 2025 season will be Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 6-8 p.m. to raise money for Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center and HOPE of Ogle County. The event will again be held at the hangar at Flight Deck Bar & Grill at 1207 W. Gurler Road in Rochelle.
Doors will open at 5 p.m. The cost is $15 per person for 10 rounds of bingo. Raffles are also available for an additional cost. Food and drinks will be available. It is free to reserve a table for your group and highly recommended to make reservations for bingo. A food drive will be held to help bridge the gap of food insecurity in the community during the holidays. Food drive donors will receive a raffle entry.
Small Business Bingo has exceeded Patrick’s expectations she had when she came up with the event.
“I never imagined we’d raise $42,250,” Patrick said. “I didn’t know what to expect with the first events we had. I hoped to get 50-60 people to show up to the first one and maybe 100 at the second. We’ve just exceeded all of my expectations and I just hope it continues to grow and we set the bar higher and see where we can take it and how much more money we can raise.”