Valencia Country Club is hosting a poker tournament this Saturday to help local veterans who are returning home from service, according to Santa Clarita resident Bob Slocum.
Proceeds from the Ricky Slocum Memorial Fund Tournament will go toward The Ricky Slocum Memorial Fund, dedicated to helping returning veterans transition back to civilian life.
“People don’t have to apply, we’re going to reach out to them,” Slocum said, of his new memorial fund. The cause is an important one to Bob Slocum.
His son Lance Cpl Richard Patrick Slocum, was killed while serving as a U.S. Marine in Operation Iraqi Freedom on Oct. 24, 2004, Slocum said.
Buy-in is $125 per seat. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., and the tournament will actually begin at 6:30 p.m.
“We’re trying to help returning veterans coming back from iraq and Afghanistan, locally, which we have a lot of here,” Slocum said.
Recent government statistics showed that the Santa Clarita Valley has the highest per capita veteran population in California.