ROCHELLE — On June 3, the Floyd J. Tilton VFW Post #3878 conducted its seventh drawing in their current Queen of Hearts game with a jackpot of $125,410. James E. “Ed” Anders’s ticket was drawn, and he selected #53 which revealed the Queen of Hearts. This made him the winner of 65% of the jackpot which amounts to $81,516.50 before taxes.
On June 6, Post Commander Dennis Orlikowski and Club Operations Manager Robin Gounaris presented the check to Anders at VFW Post #3878. Anders is a resident of Rochelle and a frequent customer of the Post. Anders stated that he doesn’t have any big plans for the money and expects that he will spend some of it having fun.
“It is rewarding to be able to present these winning checks, but it’s especially rewarding to be presenting it to a consistent friend of our organization,” Orlikowski said. “It’s equally rewarding to be giving a portion of the jackpot to deserving organizations which help our community as well as our veterans.”
The Gambling Committee of the Post Board of Directors met on Monday, June 9 to make decisions affecting the new Queen of Hearts game. They decided to increase the amount of the starting jackpot to $10,000, and the first drawing of this game will be on Tuesday, June 17. They also decided to increase the amount of money which will be distributed to local and veteran organizations to $22,000.
Additionally, the Committee decided that the following organizations will receive the listed amounts:
Presbyterian Thrift Shop - $5,000
Rochelle Christian Food Pantry - $5,000
Rochelle Little League - $2,000
Rochelle Rescue Mission - $5,000
VetsRoll, Inc. - $5,000
Post Adjutant/Quartermaster Joe Drought stated that since the starting of the Queen of Hearts, the Rochelle VFW has “presented at least 50 checks to 29 different organizations for a total of at least $233,432 to community and veteran organizations so far, including the latest $22,000.”
Rochelle VFW is looking forward to this next game and the opportunity to build up this jackpot for the next winner, recipient organizations, and the Post itself.
