“We want people to come in their old-school hip-hop attire – ‘80s, ‘90’s, early 2000s. The best dressed will end up getting a prize,” says Gail Ford, one of the organizers of the inaugural Hip Hop Bingo fundraiser. “We are looking at a really fun night. We will be selling food there and it will have an old-school type of house party feeling. There will be a cash bar. It’s just a fun time for our chapter and the people of our community.”
The Delta Sigma Theta Madison Alumnae will be hosting Hip Hop Bingo on Saturday, April 6, 7:30-11:30 p.m. at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center, 1625 Northport Drive. The Deltas do many different activities and fundraisers in the Madison community throughout the year. This is a new and creative idea that they are pretty excited about.
“We have never done an event like this before. This is our first time doing Hip Hop Bingo. This is actually an idea we’ve had for a couple of years. We felt like now was the right time for this,” Ford tells Madison365. “We are always looking to do unique and different things in the area to get people out – especially getting people of color out. We thought that we would combine the simplicity of bingo with folks love and gravitation toward hip hop. We feel like we have a winning combination here.”
Is this an original idea?
“I feel like I haven’t heard of Hip Hop Bingo before but I know that folks have definitely done Hip Hop Trivia,” Ford says. “I think our idea came from that – combining two things that people love.”
There will be traditional bingo games with the calling of bingo numbers with some special bingo events mixed in that are specific to hip hop.
“There will be some additional bingo games and there will be some hip-hop bingo where there will be a bingo board with different artists or statements about hip hop and then we’ll read trivia questions and you have to solve the question to get that bingo space,” Ford says.
“We’re also hoping to put together a music video compilation of bingo so we’ll play a clip of a music video and the name and title of that song will be on your bingo board and you’ll have to know the video – know the artist and the song – to get that bingo,” she adds.
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African-American community throughout the United States. The Madison Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was formed on August 27, 1977, and for more than 40 years the Deltas have been working to make a difference in the Madison community.
“We’re hoping that people can come out and have a lot of fun at Hip Hop Bingo, but we also want to raise some funds to help support our organizations,” Ford says.
There will be music, food, drinks, and a twist on bingo. The doors open at 7:30 p.m. and bingo starts at 8 p.m. If you donate two pair of socks to the Delta’s Sock-It-To-Me donation drive, you will get a free Bingo dauber.
“We’re also having a sock collection drive that will be starting in May that we want to kick off at Hip Hop Bingo,” Ford says. “Bring two pair of socks to donate to the sock collection drive and the recipients of those will be the Beacon Homelessness Resource Center. We will be collecting socks for the entire month of May and donating that to the center.”
And for a $10 cover charge, you will be able to play unlimited traditional bingo all night long.
“It’s a great deal for a great cause. We’re really hoping that people come out because it’s going to be fun,” Ford says. “I think we’re most excited about community – this is really an opportunity for the community to come together and enjoy each other’s fellowship and really have a good time. Raising money for a good cause is a bonus, too.”
