Photos courtesy of Christy Layton
AMVETS Chapter 44 in Plant City held its second annual Final Tour of Duty Poker Run to raise money for cremation services for honorably discharged veterans in need. The event cost $20 for each participant, and cost $5 each to draw extra cards. Sixty-five riders, and 150 people in total, took part. The procession of riders began at VFW Post 6287 in Ruskin, where each rider drew a card from a dealer’s deck. The posse then rode to American Legion Alafia Post 148 in Riverview and did the same thing. AMVETS Post 26 in Dover served as the next stop to get a card. The luck of the draws ended at AMVETS Chapter 44 in Plant City. Lisa Harder won $150 with three kings.
“I was first vice here for a year, then our president stepped down, so I became the president for the last two years,” Eric Cobb, President of AMVETS Chapter 44 in Plant City, said. “When I became president, I decided I wanted to have an event that we could donate back to veterans who didn’t have the funds to pay for funeral services or cremation services. We partner with federal veterans funeral services over in Pinellas County. They will provide basic burial or cremation services for $900 to Hillsborough County veterans that don’t have the means to pay for services. Even if they are veterans, nothing is fully paid for from the VA. If you go get buried at Bushnell or anywhere else, it’s not fully paid for. We used to have an urn project here, years and years ago, which provided urns for cremated veterans. We haven’t been doing something like this to help veterans, who again, don’t have the means to be buried or cremated, and it is something I was passionate about, so I said, “Let’s do it.”
In 2024, the event raised $8,000 that AMVETS Post 44 used to pay for final tour services for eight veterans.
“I hope this means a lot to them,” Cobb, who served as a staff sergeant in the Air Force, said. “Especially the ones who can’t afford funeral services, and families that can’t afford it. We had AMVETS Post 26, AMVETS Post 32, AMVETS Post 550, American Legion Riders 72, and Special Forces Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. I just want to thank all of the organizations that came out today—and all the other individuals that aren’t affiliated that came out today—to have a good time and celebrate those veterans.”
This year’s event brought in $6,900 for the cause.
