Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THE LIMBO contest consisted of all male competitors. The prize was a giant queen-sized pillow. Jorge Cruze, seen here, showing off his master limbo skills, was the winner.
By KELSEY HANSEN
Ironwood - It was the annual Bowl for Kids fundraising event Saturday at Larry's Lucky Strikes for the U.P. Kids Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program.
The day was split into three sessions at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. with about fifteen groups total participating in the event.
Maggie Munch, program director out of the Houghton office and coordinator of the Bowl for Kids event, said the fifteen groups matches their total last year for teams.
Munch did mention that they were up in sponsorships this year however, and are definitely in line to match funds raised last year.
"It's really all about fun," Munch said.
And fun is exactly what teams were having at the bowling ally.
Besides food, drinks and bowling, everyone had the opportunity to participate in trivia and other fun games to win prizes throughout the day.
Several of these activities included things like a hoola hoop contest and a limbo contest.
All funds raised on Saturday stay right here in the Gogebic Range communities, Munch said.
The bowling event is a major contributor to the BBBS program funds every year, bringing in anywhere from 25-30 percent of its funding.
The U.P. BBBS still offers two types of programs to local communities including the traditional mentoring program and the High Five program in the schools.
The High Five program is school based and pairs high school juniors with elementary students.
Angela Stengard, local coordinator for the High Five program, said not much has changed with the program and they still meet once a week in Ironwood, typically on Wednesdays.
As in past years, Saturday's event also had a prize raffle that included items such as flower bouquets, a quilt and even remote control cars.
Munch gave a huge thank you to all the sponsors, volunteers, kids and community members that helped make this year's event another great success.
She said they start in early fall with their sponsor campaign and this year they had over thirty corporate sponsorships, over fifty prize donations and approximately 75-80 bowlers.
"It is really great to see all the community support for this event," Munch said.
"And we get so many repeat groups year after year. It's fantastic."
She mentioned several of the groups that participate year after year include the sheriff's department, the state police, Aspirus and Coleman Engineering.
"These groups that come year after year are committed to the kids and we greatly appreciate their support."
The program is always looking for more mentors. If you are interested, check out their website http://www.upkids.com/bbbs or email [email protected] for more information.
