Hi friends. Just wanted to pop in and let you all know what a fun time we had yesterday at the first (and hopefully not last) Euchre-for-Cheaters Tournament and Michimania Festival 2009. I am delighted to tell you that my parents won, and they did it in a very cheatery way. Here is a bulleted list of some of their accomplishments:

• Though they lost to 826michigan Executive Director Amanda Uhle and her husband Frank in the first round, they managed to convince Frank and Amanda to forfeit and allow them to go on to the next round. Jedi mind tricks?
• They beat the exact same team twice. Impossible?
• They charmed everyone into liking them so much that teams, once they lost, gave them their leftover money, allowing them to enter the finals with almost a thousand dollars to cheat with. Or did they?

It should be noted, as far as point three is concerned, that in all honesty, players seemed to be as interested in helping whatever team played the illustrious and dynamic duo of former Volunteer-of-the-Month Tyler Brubaker and his son Cameron Flora as they were in helping my parents. We love Tyler and his son very, very much, but suffice it to say their cheaterly ways and euchrey prowess did not make them many friends yesterday.

So congratulations to my parents. I can assure you they are fine, good people, and well deserving of the honor of being crowned King and Queen of the Michimania Festival 2009.

Many thanks to everyone who helped. All told, the event raised about $3500 for our free student programming. Truth be told, it’s under what we budgeted, but it’s still a pretty decent chunk of change. Extra thanks to Lauren London, Regan Borton, Frances Miller, Dr. Sara Walker, Rachel Lieberman, Kelly Mendenhall, Jason DePasquale, and all others who helped us run the show. SUPER extra thanks to all of our players. We worked out the kinks and are excited to try it again next year!