Bingo night at the Agape Community Center
The Agape Community Center is a gathering place for people in Berryland, Thurston Woods and surrounding neighborhoods. The small gymnasium is a perfect flexible space for different activities throughout the day that bring people together. Summer school classes, free lunches, evening dinners, basketball, elections and neighborhood fairs are hosted in this gymnasium. This room is functional and flexible because it is large and open and can be put to many uses. It is a place that many people use and a place that brings together many people in the community.
Bingo Night At 4:30, bingo begins quietly, intently, and with lots of hushes. Each person gets one card and extras are 25 cents––some players play quite a few extras. “B13, B13... B11 – chopsticks, B11...” Numbers come marching out of the caller’s mouth in regiments and are checked off on the display board. We barely hear the tumbling of numbers in the round cage over the fans at the top of this small gymnasium, one of which has a noisy balloon stuck in it. The bingo players are dwarfed by the tall cream colored walls and the basketball hoops. Each table is set with plastic bouquets for the community dinner which happens immediately after bingo and fills the room with almost ten times as many people. “G59, G59...” Fifteen minutes into the game, one winner shouts “Bingo!” in a gruff voice, takes his card to the caller to have the bingo verified and claims his bag of potato chips. Preparation for the evening’s meal begins and so does clanking of pots and pans in the kitchen. After another winner who claims a box of microwave popcorn, people approach the snack cart next to the caller to get a muffin and a coffee and return to their seats chatting––and get reminded “You all gotta be quiet.” A woman and her son sit away from the crowd. Bored, he plays with his slinky while watching the rest of the group. The first winner wins again and assertively claims a bottle of fabric freshener. The caller ends his shift and joins the group, another takes his place; the numbers come faster because he does not repeat them. “N42. B8. O66.” People emerge from the kitchen to watch the quiet spectacle as the meal comes together. The smell of chicken and gravy fills the room. The first winner shouts “Bingo!” again and other players get frustrated. He claims a package of toilet paper and exchanges his potato chips for a bottle of detergent. |