There’s still time to sign a team up for this year’s Bowl for Kid’s Sake to raise funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Pictou County.
So far, response to this year’s Bowl for Kid’s Sake has been good, with many businesses offering to sponsor a lane or donate prizes if they’re unable to enter a team.
Nearly 175 teams have registered, and there is still room for about 25 more teams. But things seem to have stalled, said Margie Grant-Walsh, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“We’re hoping we get there, but we’re kind of at a stalemate right now,” Grant-Walsh said. “We have a number of teams who are not coming back this year, some places like ICT closed. When you lose teams, you’ve got to do your best to find other people to come in their place.”
Usually, about five people make up a team, but larger teams can be split up into multiple lanes, Grant-Walsh added.
The organization is hoping to raise $78,000 this year, which is the amount they raised last year.
“Two years ago we raised $84,000, which was our best ever,” she said. “We’re hoping for $78,000 this year, which is the same as last year. We didn’t quite reach our goal immediately last year, but by the end of the month, donations trickled in to bring us up to our goal.”
Inaugural Wii challenge
This year’s bowl will branch out to make events easier for children and teens to participate as well.
“We have a school challenge on the Friday afternoon before, which we started through a fluke last year,” Grant-Walsh said.
“Last year, there was damage to the roof at the Heather Bowling Lanes and two lanes were closed. To make it work, we challenged the schools to participate on Friday after school.”
It went over so well that they opted to bring it back again this year. All students and teachers are welcomed to participate.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is also reaching out to younger children with a new challenge they’re introducing this year.
“We get a lot of teachers, but we don’t usually get a lot of kids involved at the elementary level,” Grant-Walsh explained. “So we’re going to try a Wii bowling tournament in a few of the local schools before the Bowl for Kid’s Sake.”
Grant-Walsh has already met with students at Thorburn Consolidated, A.G. Baillie, Pictou Elementary, Walter Duggan and G.R. Saunders schools to explain what they’re doing and permission slips have been sent home to parents of interested students.
The kids have been given fundraising sheets and will be able to participate in the Wii bowling challenge the week prior to the April 10 Bowl for Kid’s Sake.
“We’re going to them, to the schools, and bringing along four Wiis. There’s a lot of interest, a number of students have signed up, and we’ll have 50 to 75 students taking part during their lunch break,” Grant-Walsh said, adding that a number of prizes have been donated as well for participants.
People can sign up for the Bowl for Kid’s Sake by calling Big Brothers Big Sisters at 752-6260 or online at www.bowlforkidssake.ca.
