Bowling for a cause
BUTLER TWP — Larry Cicco remembers attending the Bowl for the Kids event at the Family Bowlaway for the first time in 2006, when the fundraiser was so popular that it took place over two days.
On Sunday, March 5, Cicco attended the 29th Bowl for the Kids at the bowling alley, where the sold-out event reminded him of the first few times he attended it.
“It was bigger back then, it had two sessions,” said Cicco, who is a volunteer for the Butler YMCA. “In the last five years it has really come back and it has started selling out again.”
The Butler YMCA organizes Bowl for the Kids each year. It typically is one of the earliest and biggest fundraising events for the organization’s campaign each year.
Christina Dreher, development director at the YMCA, said the event sold out prior to Sunday, with about 200 people participating in the bowling fun. She said the fundraising goal for the annual campaign, which runs throughout each calendar year, is $425,000, and she hoped to raise at least $30,000 through Bowl for the Kids.
The campaign, Dreher said, helps fund registration costs for children and families who otherwise may not be able to afford the cost of attending programs at the YMCA.
Dreher said the event’s popularity made her confident that goal would be met, and she was also happy that it has remained popular over the years.
“I just like seeing people come out and support the YMCA,” Dreher said. “It’s an inclusive event whether you’re a regular bowler or just coming to have fun with your kids.”
Many of the lanes at the alley Sunday were filled with people wearing color-coordinated T-shirts and some groups sporting leg warmers and headbands.
Dana D’Antonio, of Fenelton, attended the event with a group of people she works out with at the YMCA, and said she has bowled for the kids several times because of the positive programs created by the YMCA.
“I have belonged to the YMCA for a decade; we got three lanes this year,” D’Antonio said. “This is my favorite fundraiser because being a parent is expensive, and this helps people to be able to go the YMCA.”
In addition to the price of admission and renting lanes, the event also raised money through a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction. Dreher said the children in the YMCA’s Reach & Rise program, which provides youth with a space to make friends, learn, share what is on their minds and receive encouragement from adults, also contribute to the raffle.
“There is a piece of Reach & Rise artwork that’s being auctioned off,” Dreher said. “It’s powerful and really nice to see people want to support that and want to buy their artwork.”
The event took place from noon until 3 p.m. Sunday, and the bowling and duck pin lanes were filled with activity throughout its duration.
Laura Mason, of Connoquenessing Township, said she and her family attended the event to support the YMCA, a place that has helped her own children grow.
“We’re there three times a week so we paid for a team,” Mason said. “My kids love to bowl and they are on the Barracudas swim team.
“They have great programs for kids, and we are here for the kids.”
