The Portage YMCA Bowl-a-thon fundraiser has become a community staple each March. Participants, sponsors and community members anticipate the event, which took place for the 24th consecutive year on Saturday afternoon at Camelot Bowling Center in Portage.
The bowl-a-thon has continued to reach new heights in terms of participation and money raised each year. For just the third time in the event’s history, every lane was filled on Saturday.
“We’re getting pretty good at getting it down pat,” YMCA Marketing Coordinator Nancy Simpson said. “With social media, I think that helps get the word out. We use a lot of Facebook and a lot of Twitter. We did a huge splash of the campaign and about the event.”
Another factor in the increase in participation is the longevity of the annual fundraiser.
“With it being its 24th year, I think the community kind of expects it,” Simpson said. “It’s always in March; it’s always around the same time. People actually came to us saying they want to be a sponsor instead of us having to search them out, so that helped.”
The proceeds from the fun afternoon of bowling go toward the YMCA’s annual support campaign. This year’s campaign theme is “we build people.” The funds are going to be utilized to hand out scholarships and provide programs and services to those in need in the community.
The platinum sponsor of the bowl-a-thon is St. Mary Medical Center, which has a partnership in place with the YMCA for the next four years. The next level sponsors are Horizon Bank and NLMK, while a slew of organizations and businesses contribute as pin sponsors.
“We’re just really excited to raise more money than we ever had before,” Simpson said. “I think the most money we’ve ever raised at this event is $22,000. We’re shooting for $25,000 and seeing as we’re doing a silent auction, we’re thinking that the dollars will go up.”