Warsaw children enrolled in Big Brothers Big Sisters were treated to an evening of free bowling and pizza Tuesday thanks to a bowling party funded by First Merchants Bank.
The match event for local Bigs and their Littles, held at Warsaw’s The Bowling Alley, was the second year the event was held so Bigs and Littles could come out and have fun with other Bigs and Littles.
Troy Galbraith, vice president, commercial relationship manager of First Merchants Bank, said, “It’s an opportunity to do something where the Littles get to participate in an event. It’s a good way - a lot of the Bigs do things with their Littles out in the community, but not very often do this many Littles in one place. They get to interact with each other.”
He said the benefit of Tuesday’s event was Big Brothers/Sisters get to meet one another, with the same going with the Littles.
“It’s just an opportunity to get the groups out into a bigger group so they can have fun together,” he said.
Galbraith said he hopes the match event becomes an annual event and grows.
Besides bowling and eating pizza, people were also able to learn about BBBS’s annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake fundraiser in Kosciusko County on Feb. 24 at The Bowling Alley.
Sponsored by Pro Resources, Bowl For Kids’ Sake is the national annual fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters that has been done for many years, said Tammy Smith, Kosciusko County community development director.
Participants register as teams of five and are provided a fundraising webpage, which can be shared on social media or via email and text. Each individual participant is encouraged to raise $100 per person, for a total goal of $500 per team. For teams who think they can raise more, there are options to sign up for “Kids’ Champs” and “Super Teams” which pledge to raise $5,000 and $2,500 per team respectively, according to a news release from BBBS.
For fundraising teams that do decide to bowl, Bowl For Kids’ Sake offers a free night of cosmic bowling, free pop or beer, pizza and prizes. Raffle tickets will be for sale, and everyone who attends will receive some kind of prize, according to the news release.
The theme this will be Battle of the Bands, said Smith. The fundraiser part will be Feb. 24 from 1 to 3 and 4 to 6 p.m. at The Bowling Alley.
Smith said Bowl For Kids’ Sake is a peer-to-peer fundraiser with a goal to get 32 teams of five people each this year. For the 12 counties of Northeastern Indiana, the goal is to raise $300,000. Smith said money raised in Kosciusko will stay to help in Kosciusko County.
She said the number of children served in BBBS has tripled in the last two years, “so we need local funding more than ever.”
If anyone is interested in becoming a team leader, they can go to www.bbbsnei.org and there is a page where they can create a fundraiser page or BBBS can create that page for them.