Totals are slowly trickling in and with some teams left to bowl, Bowl for Kids Sake is not over yet for Development Coordinator Stacey Poss.
So far with 39 teams of businesses, schools, and organizations and over 330 bowlers, the main fundraiser for the Humboldt Big Brothers Big Sisters organization has raised over $34,000.
The Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser is Humboldt Big Brothers Big Sisters’ biggest fundraiser for the year and is the biggest contributor to their core funding.
The money will “keep the doors open,” says Poss and is a very important fundraiser.
The goal was to beat last years total of $40,000 and even though they are a little short of that goal, Poss says they appreciate every dollar.
Though corporate sponsorship was down this year by $7,000, Poss says that the community stepped up with even more pledges and fundraising than last year.
“We have the potential to fill that gap of $7,000, that’s really amazing. We just feel really humbled for that.”
Poss says they really appreciate the work of the community in continuing to make the Bowl for Kids Sake a success and says that obvious support from the community means they must be doing a good job.
“We are very happy about that.”
The fundraiser kicked off with the Bowl with the Broncos night which the kids really enjoyed, say Poss.
With the theme Fun in the Sun, Poss says people really brought it with the costumes and unique fundraising ideas.
Local farm dealerships, banks, and car dealerships had friendly competitions to see who could fundraise the most.
Pattison took home the trophy for the top fundraising farm dealerships and even came prepared in team t-shirts.
Miles Waldbillig says that taking home the trophy is always a good honour. Considering they missed a couple of years it is nice to get back in the swing.
Mike Lempky from Pattison is most likely to take home the trophy for largest fundraising total with $900 raised in pledges and another $1,720 online beating out Humboldt Broncos defenseman Stephen Wack for the iPhone 7 highest fundraiser grand prize.
Lempky says their customers at Pattison were a big help to their team and were always ready to donate.
Wack, along with fellow Bronco Matthieu Gomercic, went door to door collecting donations.
Playing in Humboldt, Wack says he always sees kids at the games and cheering for them. This was his opportunity to give back, he says.
Humboldt RBC took home the trophy among the banks raising $1,045. Branch Manager Jodi Smith says that it really was a team effort.
“The folks in the branch worked really hard at getting people to recognize the great things that Big Brothers and Big Sisters do and the importance of supporting us in Bowl for Kids.”
Because of their high amount of bowlers, they also received a team action grant which meant another $2,000 from RBC to support the Humboldt branch’s team effort.
Special mention was made of the Conexus team who dressed as the cast of Gilligan’s Island for the occasion.
Humboldt Discovery Ford took the trophy for top dealership with another $1,539 going towards Humboldt Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Sarah Rohne says they are thrilled to be receiving the trophy this year.
“It’s rewarding just in itself to raise that money for the charity but winning it is a nice little icing on the cake.”
Special mention was also made to the students of Muenster School who raised $2,400. Student Nathan Caroll went door to door collecting the most pledges and won a new iPad donated by This is Your Computer.
The fundraising would not have happened without the volunteers and bigs who helped out so Poss would like to extend a huge thank you to them.
Even though Poss says they will be close to making their goal, either way they have had a great Bowl for Kids Sake 2017.
