One of Squamish's longest-running fun fundraisers might be heading for the gutter unless more people sign up to bowl.Wendy Brown, the co-ordinator for the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, says that local job losses are seriously jeopardizing fundraising for the upcoming 26th annual Bowling for Dollars event.
"This year we're way, way down in terms of how many people are bowling," said Brown. "We're losing a lot of the people who bowl, and that's due to the loss of jobs. Interfor was a big, big fundraiser for us. They used to come out and bowl and raise about $3,000. And the ball teams that bowl, they usually bring in just as much but most of them would get their pledges from work, which was Interfor. We're nervous, very nervous."
The event typically raises $20,000 to $30,000 for the organization each year. All money raised goes to the match program, which is still very much alive in Squamish. Brown said that the area's 84 matches is the highest per capita rate in the country.
Now some of the matches still in the area are teaming up once again to bowl for the cause.
Claudette Johnson was matched 25 years ago with eight-year-old Hannah Halsingal in Squamish, and both say the meeting changed the course of their lives.
"She taught me everything from baking cinnamon buns to gardening to being a friend to learning how to read, relaxing reading, not just school reading," said Halsingal. "She taught me a lot of tranquility. She's my angel. She's absolutely fabulous."
Halsingal said her father raised her as a single parent from the age of four and "didn't know what to do with me." She went through a few big sisters who eventually moved or got married. Johnson also went through a few matches before Hannah, but both women say that when they were paired, that was it.
"Hannah wasn't my first match, but she was my last match because we connected so well," said Johnson. "She just really blessed me in my life. We just went on for ten plus years, and actually we're still going on."
The women, who still call each other sister, will be teaming up with Halsingal's two children and Johnson's daughter as the Red Rockets at Garibaldi Lanes, March 11, 12, 18.
"We're so close and we always said that we should do that for the organization because it did so much for us in our lives and we just wanted to give back to it" said Johnson. "It's also for our children to be aware that this is what happened in our lives that they can do good in theirs too, and we can have fun."
Individuals or businesses can donate door prizes or silent auction items, sponsor a t-shirt that will sport a logo or collect pledges and choose a bowling time.
For more information contact Wendy Brown at [email protected] or call 604 815-3298.
