Welcome to Oil Bowl week here in North Texas.
The 78th annual Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl Classic is set to take place today at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls.
Bowie’s David Correa is the lone representative from Montague County this year.
The sports editor is a big fan of Shrine Bowl all-star football games, which take place all over the nation.
When I lived in Kansas, I covered a couple of Shrine Bowls, and I have also reported on them in Iowa.
The Shriners Hospital for Children is my favorite charity organization.
According to its Form 990 in April 2009, the hospital endowment was more than $5 billion. A Form 990 is an annual reporting return that certain federally tax-exempt groups must file with the Internal Revenue Service.
Children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family environment.
That’s regardless of the patients’ ability to pay, and whether or not the family has any affiliation with the Shriners or other Freemasonry.
After last year’s game, current Texas Lutheran quarterback Garland McCoy said it was “very emotional” watching a video about the impact the Shriners Hospitals For Children has.
The first Shriners hospital opened in 1922 in Shreveport, La., providing pediatric orthopedic care. Today, there are more than 20 centers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In the state of Texas, hospitals are located in both Galveston and Houston. The center in Galveston has a reputation for caring for children that are burn victims. Read more of this column in the weekend Bowie News.

Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.

Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl. (Graphic provided by the Maskat Shrine, no copyright infringement inferred)