Whitehorse Daily Star

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RAISING SUPPORT – Approximately 150 bowlers on 30 teams came out Sunday in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters Yukon and its annual Bowl for Kids Sake event. Collectively, they raised $27,478 for the non-profit organization that pairs up children and youth with positive role models. Inset Shelby Maunder

Big Brothers Big Sisters host another successful fundraiser

It wasn’t suppose to happen. But it did, and in a very big way.

By Chuck Tobin on April 26, 2016

It wasn’t suppose to happen. But it did, and in a very big way.

Sunday’s annual fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters Yukon was another record, raising $27,478 at the Bowl for Kids Sake.

Last year’s event was supposed to be the last, as Mad Trapper Alleys was scheduled to close permanently last spring. It did close but owner Stephen Kwok announced in the fall he would re-open the alleys but only on a part-time, weekend basis.

And as he’s done for several years now, Kwok donated the alleys for the fundraiser.

“We had more teams bowling this years,” Shelby Maunder, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters, said in an interview Monday. “When you compare to last year, the teams just raised more.”

Maunder said there were 30 teams and 150 bowlers through the day.

Seven of the teams raised over $1,000, she said.

Maunder pointed out the Bank of Montreal team not only won the Bank Challenge award with its fundraising effort of $2,415, it was also the team that raised the most money overall.

Approximately 50 per cent of the organization’s annual budget comes from its own fundraising, with the Bowl for Kids Sake being the major initiative, along with the annual Curl for Kids in the fall. Last fall’s event raised $12,000.

Maunder said Big Brothers Big Sisters Yukon pairs up children and youth with positive role models. The organization supports a one-on-one in-school program, the more traditional program where mentors and youth share their time after school or on weekends and there’s the group mentoring program, she explained.

Over the past year, 55 children and youth were involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters. The organization has 30 mentors, with a few currently going through the intake process.

Sunday’s Bowl for Kids was the 25th annual.

Stephen Kwok, owner of Mad Trapper Alleys, said today he’ll be closing the alleys for the summer after the first week of May.

Whether they’ll be available for next year’s event, Kwok said he just can’t make any promises right now.

He said the alleys are getting old.

Maunder said donating the use of the bowling alleys for the annual fundraiser has been a “huge, huge contribution.”

Of the $27,478 raised on Sunday, the 30 teams raised approximately $17,000 while the remainder was raised through the silent auction and corporate sponsorship.

The Learning Tree Daycare won the award for the Family and Friends Challenge, with $800 raised.

The $1,395 brought in by Java Connection earned the team the Team Challenge award. The Superstore team was given the Big Box Challenge award with its contribution of $1,351 and the Northwestel team earned the Corporation Challenge award by raising $1,219.

Maunder pointed out that for the first time some bowlers used a national online fundraising platform to reach out to friends and family across the country.

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