Forty four players from fourteen towns fill a library room in Greenfield for Alzheimer's research

In the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, a library meeting room has become one of the busiest tables around. According to the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, women from 14 area towns gathered on a recent Monday in the Wensberg Room at Greenfield's Stephenson Memorial Library for an Aloha Mah Jongg tournament, a Hawaiian themed afternoon of play that raised money for Alzheimer's research.

The paper reports that 44 players took part, which is the most the room can hold, and that a waitlist formed behind them. Entry was $12, which covered the game and a buffet lunch. Raffle prizes and a 50/50 cash raffle rounded out the afternoon, and the Ledger-Transcript reports that the 50/50 alone brought in more than $310.

A party that keeps coming back

The organizer is Susan Greer of Hancock, who told the paper that these parties are something she dreamed up herself. Her account of the turnout is the kind every host hopes to give one day: the room is always full, and there is always a waitlist. The Ledger-Transcript reports that the group has now donated $2,896 to Alzheimer's research to date.

Michelle Berkens ran the 50/50 raffle and told the paper that the cause matters to the players in the room. That is how a fundraiser like this grows. Nobody needs a ballroom or a sponsor. A friend organizes, another friend sells the raffle tickets, and everyone brings patience and a 2026 card.

The money goes through Do What You Love to End ALZ, a national campaign of the Alzheimer's Association. According to the campaign's Mah Jongg page, players can host a lunch, a donate to play game, a tournament or a silent auction, and the funds support the Association's care, support and research work. Anyone can register on that page to start a fundraiser of their own.

The weekly tables behind the big day

The tournament did not appear out of nowhere. The Ledger-Transcript reports that Linda Dodge has run a Monday noon game in the same library room since 2021, and that regular games now meet in town libraries, recreation spaces and community halls across the region. Grisel Levene teaches a weekly game at the Dublin Community Center, the paper adds.

The paper describes the game as American Mah Jongg, played from the combinations the National Mah Jongg League publishes each year, with new hands arriving every March. Levene offered the paper a simple reason the game is thriving now: it can only be played in person. You cannot scroll through a Charleston. You have to sit down across from someone and pass three tiles.

For players in Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Dublin and the towns around them, the takeaway is that the tables are already set. A library game on a Monday at noon is an easy way in, and the next themed party will likely fill as quickly as this one did.

“It can only be played in person.”Grisel Levene, to the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Prim's view

This is Prim's opinion. Twelve dollars, a buffet lunch and a library room is about as gracious a fundraiser as one could design. Nobody is priced out, nobody is made to feel they must be an expert, and the money still adds up. Nearly three thousand dollars, a few dollars at a time, is a fine thing for a group of friends to have given.

Prim also admires the waitlist. A waitlist is a compliment to the hostess. It means people trust the afternoon to be well run, warm and fun, and that is earned one party at a time. If you live in the Monadnock region, Prim suggests putting your name down early for the next one, and joining a weekly game in the meantime so you arrive ready to play.