If you were to visit The Commons on St. Anthony in Auburn this week you would hear many things like, “Great job Bill” or “Congratulations on your win Bill!”

“It felt great,” said Bill Sliter, a resident at The Commons on St. Anthony, a skilled nursing facility at 3 St. Anthony St. 

About a year and a half ago, Bill came up with the idea of having an arm wrestling competition with one of the occupational therapists at the Commons named Steve Perrone. At the time, this idea was shrugged off for a while but was recently brought back up a couple of months ago. 

Steve later agreed to the competition and decided to make it a fundraiser. Bill said he loved the idea and he wanted the money to go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Both Bill and Steve sat down with the event coordinator at The Commons named Amy. Amy also decided this was a great idea. 

When trying to figure out the date they should hold the competition, Bill suggested he wanted to do it at the first of a month. Groundhog Day was brought up and they decided to do it then.

Bill started training right away. He would put 10 pounds on his wrists and did curls with 18 pounds. Steve, on the other hand, did not do any extra preparing for the big day. 

When the big day arrived around 60 residents and staff of The Commons came together to watch the competition. Many came with signs and were cheering loudly. Although most were cheering for Bill (including Steve’s girlfriend) Steve said he enjoyed himself and enjoyed seeing everyone come together and have a great time. 

Bill took the win and the crowd cheered louder than ever. Bill said, “It felt great.” He explained how being handicapped can hold him back sometimes, and because of his old age, he was the underdog, but winning this made him feel great and realize he still can do and accomplish many things. 

Later when collecting all the money people donated they realized they had over $600. This was an amazing accomplishment and is going to help so many kids just from an arm wrestling competition.