Bowl For Kids’ Sake, the agency’s largest annual fundraising event, will be held at AMF Parkway Lanes in Allentown on the first Sunday in March
Allentown, PA — February 20, 2015 — Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley will be hosting roughly 800 participants from over 115 companies and organizations for Bowl For Kids’ Sake 2015. The Sunday, March 1 event at AMF Parkway Lanes in Allentown is set to take place all day, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Participants will be working to help Big Brothers Big Sisters attain a $200,000 event fundraising goal. To date, about $90,000 has been raised through corporate sponsorships and online fundraising by individual participating bowlers. All bowlers who attend the event are asked to personally raise $90, though Brandy Barbera, the organization’s Special Events & Community Relations Manager, said several participants have raised nearly $1,000.
“We expect to see very strong participation and fundraising again for Bowl For Kids’ Sake 2015,” Barbera added. “Every dollar raised by our corporate sponsors and event participants represents an investment in the future of many Lehigh Valley children by ensuring there is funding to provide them with caring mentors. At the same time, many participating companies and organizations use this event as a fun teambuilding exercise to motivate and reward their employees.”
For instance, National Penn Bank, PPL, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and Wells Fargo, four of the area’s top employers, usually bring over 50 employees apiece to the event, Barbera said.
Since it costs the agency roughly $1,200 per year to create and sustain each mentoring relationship it serves, Bowl For Kids’ Sake 2015 will be integral to helping the agency achieve another major goal—that of serving 380 children in mentoring relationships by July of this year.
Bowl For Kids’ Sake 2015 boasts the support of nearly 100 corporate sponsors, including Service Electric Cable TV & Communications, First Niagara, Viamedia, AMF Parkway Lanes, LANtek, Wells Fargo, PPL, and Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Coverage of the event and interviews with major corporate sponsors will be broadcast live on Service Electric Cable TV2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 1.
Last year’s Bowl For Kids’ Sake also had a very strong showing, and helped Big Brothers Big Sisters to raise over $167,000 to sustain and expand its mentoring programs in Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
The event snow date is Sunday, March 8. More information about the event can be found at http://bowlforkids.bbbslv.org.
Contact:
Alex Dapkewicz, Marketing & Development Manager
About Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley
For over 40 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, holds itself accountable for children in its program to achieve measurable outcomes, such as educational success; avoidance of risky behaviors; and higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships. Partnering with parents/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children (“Littles”) with qualified, trained, and screened volunteers (“Bigs”) and monitors and supports these one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course. Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Outcomes Survey Report reinforces the mentoring program’s evidence base of positive academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes for youth, areas linked to high school graduation, avoidance of juvenile delinquency and college or job readiness.
Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children facing adversity, often those of single or low-income households or families where a parent is incarcerated or serving in the military, with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. This mission has been the cornerstone of the organization’s 100-year history. The organization is engaged in a nationwide search to reunite with alumni mentors, mentees, donors, and family, staff and board members. Learn how you can volunteer or donate—visit www.bbbslv.org.
