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The founding council of United Commercial Travelers in Atlantic Canada will celebrate its 60th anniversary this month with two major events.

UCT Fredericton will mark the milestone with a charity poker tournament Saturday and a gala dinner and celebration Oct. 18.

The Order of United Commercial Travelers, commonly referred to as UCT, is a non-profit fraternal benefit society offering members various insurance products and other benefits.

UCT also pursues community service activities and supports charities. The order was founded in 1888 and has almost 80,000 members in 395 councils across North America.

The Fredericton council has been active since October 1948 and has more than 250 members. Over the past 60 years, the council has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a wide variety of charities and causes relating to youth, senior citizens, cancer and people with intellectual disabilities. The Fredericton council was founded by Frank Corbin.

The gala dinner will take place at the Fredericton Inn and feature UCT past supreme counsellor (past international president) and Fredericton native Robert (Bob) K. Marshall as a guest speaker. Marshall joined Fredericton Council 746 in 1965. He served through the line of local offices and received his past counsellor (past local president) honours in 1979.

He moved to Scotia Council 838 in Dartmouth, N.S., in 1981. Marshall also served at the Atlantic Grand (regional) level, serving through the line of grand offices and receiving his past grand counsellor (past regional president) honours in 1986.

He served as the organization's supreme counsellor (international president) in 2003-2004. He was awarded the honorary title of past supreme counsellor at the 118th Supreme Session (international convention) held July 2005 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"Having Bob as our guest speaker is a great honour" said UCT Fredericton senior counsellor Paula Dunnett. "Even after he moved to Halifax, Bob stayed in close touch with our council and we were all very proud of the work he did as supreme counsellor.

"Much has changed in our community and our council since 1948, but the core UCT values of people helping people have remained and Bob will be able to speak about that."

Following the dinner there will be a casino and entertainment. Representatives from UCT councils from across Atlantic Canada will be in attendance and the UCT Atlantic grand executive will be holding meetings in the city during the day.

The week prior to the dinner, UCT will be holding a charity poker tournament at Willie O'Ree Place.

Proceeds from the tournament will be donated by UCT to the New Brunswick Association for Community Living.

"Supporting organizations that help people with intellectual disabilities has always been one of the primary goals of our community fundraising," says Dunnett. "So we thought it only appropriate that this fund raiser supports NBACL."

Association executive director Krista Carr said it's thrilled to be working with UCT.

"As a non-profit organization, NBACL relies heavily on charitable donations to continue the work we do, (to) every day to make a difference in the lives of children and adults with an intellectual disability and their families, and as such, we are very grateful that we have been chosen by UCT to be the recipients of the funds raised through this tournament.

"These funds will help us to continue to expand the programs of the association, enabling us to reach more individuals and their families."

The tournament will be open to 120 players with a $100 registration fee. Based on a 120 players, the prize pool will be more than $4,000 with a $2,500 first prize. This will be the second tournament UCT has done since they became legal in the province earlier this year. The first tournament in May raised more than $3,500 for local charities.

"We received rave reviews on our first tournament and we are confident our second event will be even more successful," said Dunnett. "These charity tournaments certainly have given our council an excellent new fundraising tool for the charities we support."

Those interested in registering for the tournament can do so at Guest Services at the Regent Mall. Tickets for the anniversary dinner are $45 per person and can be purchased by calling 454-1560.