A music trivia fundraiser for the Alzheimer Society of B.C. started in 2013 by Black Press’ Don Bodger and his wife Theresa has now surpassed $65,000 since its inception.
The Georgina Falt Memorial Mind Games Music Trivia Tournament, named after Theresa’s mom who had Alzheimer’s, started small with proceeds of $2,125 the first year but has grown steadily ever since, reaching a peak of $15,293 raised in 2019. The pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the in-person gathering, but didn’t shut it down entirely with participants banding together to still raise $6,777 through an email game in 2020 to push the overall total to $65,030.
Related: Music trivia tournament in Duncan a hit on World Alzheimer’s Day
It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, but the Bodgers wouldn’t have it any other way and the participation from music trivia buffs around the Island – from Victoria to Courtenay – and even a few from the Lower Mainland has been outstanding. Businesses in the region have also gone above and beyond to provide prizes for silent auctions or draw prizes and the addition of corporate sponsors the last two years has taken the event to another level.
The Bodgers started talking about doing some kind of fundraiser in early 2013 while Georgina was housed at the Chemainus Health Care Centre to receive care. They planned the first music trivia tournament for the fall and had hoped to have Georgina there to make some presentations, but she unfortunately died in July before that could happen.
“We thought there was a huge void in terms of fundraisers for Alzheimer’s and all the statistics we were seeing projected exponential increases in the number of cases occurring in the years ahead so we wanted to do something,” said Don Bodger, the editor of the Chemainus Valley Courier.
“Having the personal connection with Georgina and the fact she loved music and we knew there was a huge following out there for music trivia, we decided this is the approach we wanted to take to raise funds.”
Several regulars have been there from the outset, with others coming on board along the way.
Teams of eight gather to identify song titles and artists from 30-second slips over 10 rounds, with all genres of music covered from the 1950s to present. Each team has a sheet to write down their responses.
The first event was held in a Fuller Lake Arena meeting room before the requirement of a larger space resulted in a move to the Duncan Community Lodge for two years.
Still in need of more space for the expanding following, the Bodgers made another switch to the Duncan Curling Club’s lounge for two events in 2016 and single events in the fall of 2017 through 2019.
The emergence of COVID-19 resulted in the event being re-imagined to become the Georgina Falt Memorial Match Game tournament for 2020, conducted by email instead of a personal gathering.
Teams of two sent in their responses to try and match those determined by the Bodgers for song titles, just like on the famous Match Game on TV. Nearly 40 teams of two participated.
It’s hoped to return to the regular game in 2021, but it obviously depends on the situation with the pandemic by the end of next year.
