(L-R) Lauren White, CASA marketing director; Jaclyn Morris, CASA CEO; Elisabeth Burrows; Andrea Tirey; Stacy Kelley, CASA senior development director. Courtesy photo.
Andrea Tirey started playing Mahjong with her close friend Elisabeth Burrows in 2021 and it has blossomed into an annual charity event benefitting Lubbock organizations helping women and children.
The third-annual Mahjong Monday raised $113,500 to CASA of the South Plains – which provides court-appointed advocates for children in foster care.
The group raised $45,000 for the South Plains Food Bank its first year and $55,000 for Guadalupe-Parkway Neighborhoods Centers the next year.
Previous coverage: How women used an old Chinese game to help Lubbock groups supporting women, children
At least hundreds of Lubbock women play mahjong – invented in China in the 1800s – in dozens and dozens of foursomes across the city. Mahjong Monday brings them together once a year.
“It’s our special time to be away from work and to be just together as women in the community. That’s what makes this one Monday morning a year special – all of these women coming together,” Tirey said, who founded Mahjong Monday with Burrows.
They raise money by selling tables or tickets to the event, along with a silent auction for things like mahjong sets, spa treatments and vacations.
Patrons and table sponsors also help, starting at $2,500 for a name and logo on a sign at the event.
Patrons also get to attend a stewardship party – an extra night of mahjong called Mahjong After Dark.
Tirey understands fundraising. Her full-time job is senior associate athletic director for development for Texas Tech Athletics.
Lauren White, marketing and events director at CASA, said the funds will go toward training volunteers, travel funds for volunteers and beds for children in foster care.
“A generous donation like the one that was produced through Mahjong Monday went directly into our mission of serving children. The funds that were raised during Mahjong Monday will help us train, recruit and support more volunteers to hopefully be able to serve more kiddos in our community this year,” White said.
Some of the children they serve have been separated from their siblings. CASA makes sure the children in foster care keep in contact with their siblings through facetime calls or even visits with each other once a month, White said.
CASA oversees six counties across the South Plains and has provided over 5,000 children with an advocate, White said.
Mahjong Monday wants to keep growing the event, planned for November 17 this year, where Tirey hopes for at least 300 players. They plan to name this year’s charity in June.
“Mahjong Monday will support, partner and make annual donations to local charities who support women and children in the Lubbock community,” Tirey said, quoting the group’s tagline.
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