Edgewater Automation is inviting everyone to help raise some money for FIRST Robotics teams from around the region with its third annual Edgewater Automation Poker Run this month.

Organizer Dan Miller tells us he and some colleagues have been working with high school robotics teams for years and just wanted to do one more thing to help them out. The last two poker runs raised about $8,100 for the five teams.

This poker run will involve a 65-mile trip, with a police escort, all over Berrien County and into Indiana.

“We will go to five different locations, the five schools that we support, and the kids on the team will be there and we will draw a card and we’ll write it on our slip,” Miller said. “At the end of the five, we’ll have a full poker hand and we get back here. Whoever has the best hand will win the prize.”

Participants will be in the running for cash prizes, and there will also be a raffle. Miller says Edgewater is glad to support these robotics teams.

“They’re the future. We hire directly from these schools. Right now, four of my apprentices came from the River Valley program. They’re graduating their fourth year apprenticeship and they’ve just been taught the skills that they need right in high school that really make them a valued employee.”

The poker run will raise money for FIRST Robotics teams at New Buffalo High School, the River Valley School District, Lake Michigan STEAMworks in Buchanan, the Career Academy of South Bend, and New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, Indiana.

Registrations are $50, and you can learn more here.