Published: June 29, 2008 08:18 am      

Clubs team to help storm victims

The Fort Supply Civic Club and the Buffalo Theatre are teaming up to offer a special “dinner and movie” this Saturday.

The dinner, which is actually a hamburger and hot dog lunch, will be provided by the Fort Supply Civic Club beginning at 11 a.m. in the parking lot of the Buffalo Theatre.

At 1:15 p.m., the Theatre will show a “mystery” movie.

“We’re not telling what it is,” said James Leonard, who is a member of the Theatre board.

However, he did provide some clues, noting that the movie is a PG-13 action/adventure drama that was originally released in 2000.

But what makes the event special is that it is a benefit to raise money to help three families who lost their homes when a tornado ripped through Harper County just north of Fort Supply on May 23.

There is no set cost for the event, according to Pat Howell of the Fort Supply Civic Club.

“It’s all by freewill donation,” he said. “They can pay what they want to pay, we just hope they let their conscience be their guide.”

“One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the families who lost their homes in the tornado,” Leonard noted.

The two organizations teamed up to help the families because “those families have direct ties to the Fort Supply and Buffalo communities,” Howell said.

“We all know them,” Leonard said.

In fact, he said one of the victims Johnny Owens is a member of the Buffalo Theatre board.

“Obviously everyone on the board wanted to do something for Johnny,” Leonard said. “But we weren’t going to do something for him and not do something for the other families as well.”

Almost as soon as the Buffalo Theatre board got the ball rolling to host a benefit movie, Leonard said Howell contacted them to volunteer the Fort Supply Civic Club to provide the meal so that together the two groups could hopefully raise more money.

Howell volunteered the benevolent Civic Club because he said that all of the families who lost their homes in the tornado had been the kind of “folks who any time anyone else needed help they were right there.”

“In our minds, it’s an important gesture because those families have been contributors to our communities for generation after generation,” he said.

So now that they are having to rebuild and “basically just start over,” Howell said it is the perfect opportunity for the community to give back to them.

In addition, Howell said that everyone knows that insurance doesn’t always pay for everything.

“We know and feel like a lot of expenses go untouched,” he said. “This will help pay for the little things that insurance doesn’t pay for.”

Overall, Howell said the benefit “should be a fun time and is certainly for a worthy cause.”

If you are unable to attend the benefit, but are still interested in sending money to the families, Leonard said you can mail donations to the Buffalo Theatre at P.O. Box 184 / Buffalo, OK 73834. However, he said donors should “make sure they designate it in the memo to ‘Tornado Victims’ or ‘Tornado Benefit.’”

For more information about the benefit or how to donate, contact Leonard at (580) 727-5499.