“Do you know any of these answers?” he asked midway through the third round of questions. “We might be in trouble.”
The Lucas family joined a dozen other Bloomington residents at Nick’s for Community Kitchen Trivia Night, answering far-fetched questions in search of a $200 prize.
All proceeds from the night went to the Community Kitchen of Monroe County, which provides free meals for more than 250,000 people each year.
Every night, the Kitchen prepares and serves dinner for anybody who walks through the door. A recently launched slate of programs will focus on Monroe County’s children, and the Kitchen estimates more than 60 percent of its meals goes to kids.
As the Kitchen’s status has grown in the area, its financial wiggle room has all but evaporated.
Judy, who has sat on the Board of Directors since her retirement in 1998, said the nonprofit’s budget is never enough.
“Always tight,” Judy said. “One of the jobs of the board is to find funding for the Kitchen.”
In the past, the Kitchen used auctions to raise money.
Those became too commonplace, so the board started looking for other ways to bring in donations. With Bloomington’s student population, trivia nights stuck out as an obvious choice.
“Not only do they support the Kitchen,” Becky said. “They get to drink, too.”
This week, attendance was low: just 15 people at $10 a ticket. At least the cash prize had been donated, which allowed the Kitchen to pocket the entirety of the night’s proceeds.
Judy said the bar usually fills up pretty quickly on trivia nights. The upcoming holiday weekend and warm weather outside must have kept people away.
Becky grabbed a handful of popcorn, and it was time for another question. The host muttered something about plot devices in TV shows.
“Oh, I think I know this,” Becky said. She scribbled “red herring” on the sheet in front of her.
Wrong. “The answer is Chekhov’s gun,” the host declared. The Lucas family went just 2-for-10 that round.
“Oh well,” Don said. “It’s just for fun, anyway.”
