This year’s Poker Run was not a money-maker for Disabled American Veterans Chapter 78, but organizers won’t let that keep them down.

“We won’t let one setback discourage us,” said Gary Stopyra as the group tallied up the take from the second annual motorcycle event.

By the time the last rider had returned to the M&S Harley-Davidson dealership on Falling Spring Road at 1:30 p.m., it was already apparent that expenses for the event were going to exceed donations.

Still, Stopyra said the event was a success in that about 50 disabled veterans were able to get help from DAV’s National Service office during the event.

Supervisor Robert McClellan and an assistant, Jeff Petherbridge, set up a table under a tent in the M&S parking lot and talked to veterans, discussing their problems and helping them figure out how to get the benefits due them because of their service-related disabilities.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Stopyra said. “The purpose of the poker run was to help our disabled veterans, and even though we didn’t come out with extra funds for that purpose, we still accomplished our goal.”

It took past DAV state commander Lawrence Kelly three hours to get to Chapter 78’s Second Annual Poker Run, but he said just knowing that his participation in the event would help disabled veterans was worth the ride, plus the extra time he spent on the bike making the round trip from Chambersburg to Greencastle, Waynesboro, Rouzerville, South Mountain and back to Chambersburg.

He said he was eager to leave his home outside of Hazelton early Saturday morning to participate in the Chambersburg event.

“It’s for a good cause,” he said. He also participated in last year’s run.

Twenty-five riders participated in this year’s Poker Run, compared to 57 last year.

Stopyra said he thought the fact that there were other biker events in the area Saturday probably contributed to the low attendance this year.

He promised another Poker Run next year, bigger and better.

“We will stick with it,” he said. “It can only grow from here and next year we are gonna knock ‘em dead.”