February 26, 2018
Tim Hortons Bowl for Kids Sake Bowls a Strike Lanark County!
Lanark County: Local bowling alleys were jam packed full as over 773 bowlers came out to support Big Brothers Big Sisters on Saturday. $90,000.00 was raised to fund mentoring programs for this local children’s charity.
Bowl for Kids is a Canadian tradition from Coast to Coast. Big Brothers Big Sisters is not funded by the government, and this fun filled event raises approximately 20% of the agency’s annual budget.
Local Corporations have covered all the overhead costs of the event, which means that all funds raised by teams go directly to fund mentoring programs for local children. These sponsors include; Tim Hortons as Title Sponsor, Corporate Sponsors, Arthur J. Gallagher, 92.3 Jack FM, Canadian Tire, Guy Saumure & Sons Construction LTD., Hinton Dodge Chrysler, Cogeco, Eaton, Pankow Financial Solutions Ltd., Stoncor Group, and TD, and Alley Sponsors, Colby McGeachy Professional Corporation, Perth Civitan Club, and Rob Roy’s Pub. Please support businesses that support mentoring in Lanark County.
The Nintendo Wii event held in Perth was a big hit with young and old alike. Live music added a lot of fun and energy, and the Civitan Hall was full of great sounds from local musicians including Terry Tufts, Jeff Kohl, In Hard Times, Julie Kevan and Peter Brown, Lucas Tennant, and Landon Bedor. Traditional bowling continues to be a popular choice for participants, and Gratton Lanes in Smiths Falls and Vision Lanes in Carleton Place were gracious hosts once again.
The community rallied to ensure mentoring programs could continue. Those who couldn’t bowl held fun events at their workplaces. This year the agency had a new Bowl for Kids Team, Albany International, participate in our largest fundraiser of the year. This team embraced the idea of a company wide Wii Tournament and held an office wide double elimination tournament that included 44 games.
Bowl for Kids provides great morale building experiences to companies when their employees work together to give back to the community. Albany is another one of these great stories.
Funds raised go to help children reach their full potential through consistent, dependable and non-conditional adult friendship. Over the years hundreds of children in Lanark County have benefited from these relationships and the adults involved have overwhelmingly expressed their enthusiasm for the friendship they have enjoyed. In 2017, 654 kids were served throughout Lanark County.
Children in the programs are matched with a caring adult volunteer, and they spend 1 to 5 hours per week together. This is a program that focuses on friendship, and helps children who need a mentor to look up to. Often the children in the programs come from single parent homes, and are need of a role model and someone to talk to. Adult volunteers are fully screened and come from all walks of life, some are young adults, some are seniors – it’s the sort of volunteer program that can accommodate almost anyone with a few hours to spare.
The agency is actively seeking new volunteers for their mentoring programs, and would welcome your calls or questions about volunteer options. For more information about the agency, visit www.bigbrothersbigsisterslanark.ca or call 613-283-0570.
For more information:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County
Jennifer Miller, Executive Director
18 William St. E.
Smiths Falls, ON
K7A 1C2
613-283-0570
jennifer.miller@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca
www.bigbrothersbigsisterslanark.ca
