Shriner's Promise Fulfilled

Las Vegas Shriner’s Promise to the Children of Shriners Hospital is Fulfilled by his Widow

Los Angeles, CA – December 2007 –
Ralph Rickhoff, a member of the Zelzah Shrine Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, would come into the High Maintenance Sports Pub every week with one goal in mind. He wanted to win the big screen television set that was being raffled off and donate it to Shriners Hospitals for Children in Los Angeles.
The drawing was held in early November, but unfortunately, Ralph was not there to see it.
He had quietly passed away the week before. When she heard the news, bar owner Becky White thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Ralph’s name was drawn and we could fulfill his last wish.”
Well, in Las Vegas dreams come true and when the winning ticket was pulled, sure enough, it had Ralph Richoff’s name on it.

His widow Vivian Rickhoff immediately called William “Swannie” Swenson, Potentate of the Zelzah Shrine Center to inform him of the good news. “She was so excited, I couldn’t even understand what she was saying!” says Swannie. After finally making sense of her call, Swannie quickly arranged for a hospital van to drive out to Los Angeles to deliver the television.
Upon hearing the news, Becky White and her husband Artie decided that they needed to pitch in as well. In addition to the television, they also provided a DVD player and several boxes of movies for the children at the hospital.

The trip from Las Vegas occurred on December 12th. Accompanying the donations were Vivian Rickhoff, Becky White and her parents, “Swannie” Swenson and members of the Divan from the Zelzah Shrine Center. They were warmly welcomed by hospital administrator Terry Cunningham who said, “This donation is a great addition to the hospital. It will be placed in our outpatient department waiting area so that all of our patients and family members can enjoy.”
As they left to go home, the new television was already hooked up and showing one of the videos brought from Las Vegas. Surrounding the show were several hospital patients with eyes frimly glued to the TV.