Approximately 850 participants and 110 corporate sponsors supported the agency’s
largest annual fundraising event at AMF Parkway Lanes on March 1
Allentown, PA — March 17, 2015 — Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley raised more than $174,000 at its biggest annual fundraiser, Bowl For Kids’ Sake, with participants from many Lehigh Valley companies and organizations and corporate sponsors leading the fundraising charge.
Major event sponsors included Service Electric Cable TV & Communications, First Niagara, Viamedia, AMF Parkway Lanes, LANtek, Wells Fargo, PPL, and Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Of all companies involved, PPL was also the top corporate fundraiser. With upwards of 150 participants bowling at the event, PPL employees collectively raised just shy of $22,000.
Service Electric TV2 Sports, one of the event’s three Title Sponsors, provided live coverage of the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Susan Bartels, the agency’s CEO, said she was extremely impressed with this year’s event turnout, and was especially enthusiastic that the agency raised more than last year.
“Bowl For Kids’ Sake is an integral piece of our annual fundraising effort and provides participants with a wonderful sense of community here in the Lehigh Valley,” Bartels added. “I’m thrilled with the widespread support shown for this fundraiser and grateful to all involved for their unwavering support in helping us to serve more children in one-to-one mentoring relationships.”
Bartels also noted that it costs the organization over $1,200 per year to fund just one mentoring match. All funds raised at Bowl For Kids’ Sake, she said, will be integral in helping Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley realize its goal of creating and sustaining 380 mentoring relationships in the current fiscal year.
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.
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Alex Dapkewicz
Marketing & Development Manager
Big Brothers Big Sisters Lehigh Valley
878 Minesite Road
Allentown, PA 18103
Tel: 610-391-1827 x102 Fax: 610-391-9192
