The decades-old bingo machine broke at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in D.C. Something that allowed residents like Van Hayes to play games and stay occupied during their days.
The residents have tried to keep playing, attempting to workaround the broken board, but it didn't really work.
That's where 16-year-old Sarah Barclay Kershner Nordlinger came in. She was determined to raise money to help replace the veterans' bingo machine. She launched a GoFundMe page with a target of over $8,000 to cover the new machine, plus to buy residents soil and tools for their gardens. Nordlinger wanted to help because her family members are veterans and she knows how important board games and gardening are due to her own grandmother.
The GoFundMe was set up under her title of president of District of Columbia Children of the American Revolution. The story of what Nordlinger was trying to do went viral and the GoFundMe account now has over $15,000 raised to help the Armed Forces Retirement Home in D.C.