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Bisons Club Mission Statement |
| St. Joseph High School of
Camden, NJ, closed its doors in 1979, but thanks to some of its
graduates the spirit of the Bison lives. While there are a few organized
St. Joe's groups, The Bisons Club dedicates itself purely to keep in
touch with our high school friends and to raise money for our
scholarship fund. The club started with Mike Yanzuk , Class of 1967,
getting a bunch of guys together for lunch at the Pub Restaurant in
Pennsauken. Those lunches and an enormous amount of beer and shots
developed into what is now the Bisons Club with its 97 plus members. Meeting monthly at the Runnemede VFW, the executive board, consisting of John Spuhler, Tom Tanski, Bill Robinson, John Giacobbe, Charlie Blank, Paul Doblemen, Mike Yanzuk and VFW Commander Bill Sampolski, has seen the club grow not only in numbers, but in dedication to its purpose. The Tom Byrne Memorial Scholarship Award sponsored by the club is a $500 award given to a grandchild or great grandchild of a St. Joe alumnus. In 2019 four scholarships were awarded. Tom Byrne was a great athlete at St. Joe's and an outstanding humanitarian. Our members have been so generous that a luncheon provided by the club for the members ended up being a Toys for Tots Luncheon. The donated gifts were so plentiful and nice that the VFW had to bring them to more than one center to be distributed. This year we have added St. Jude's Hospital to our contribution list for any money collected above the scholarship award goal. The club also runs The Bisons Open golf tournament, an oldies beef and beer featuring the band It's Not Over Yet, the Bison of the Month award, and is involved in offering tickets to tour the Battleship New Jersey. The Bisons Club is open to any alumnus or friend of an alumnus of St. Joseph H. S. Anyone wishing to join can contact any club member for details or mail a check for $10 (made payable to Charles Blank) along with the year you graduated and your full name, including maiden name, and if appropriate, the name of the alumnus sponsoring you, to Charlie Blank 689 Rio Court, Williamstown, NJ 08094. The main contact is Charlie Blank at charlie.blank.53@gmail.com |