The 38th annual Tim Horton’s Bowl for Kid’s Sake, was held over the weekend, raising funds for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of SDG’s seven mentoring program.
Just two weeks ago, however, the annual event was down 56 teams from last year, but after a plea for help to the community, the agency’s executive director, Amanda Brisson, said this year’s event turned out to be another great success.
“We were at the deadline and I put a call out to the community,” said Brisson who was thrilled to eventually have 202 teams registered for the fundraiser, down only a few teams from past years.
She attributed the drop in participation to “a couple of business closures in the community and cut-backs everywhere,” however, she said, they were still hopeful to raise in the neighbourhood of between $60,000 - $65,000.
“We’ll be happy with that.” This year, there were a few new changes, including a number of “Littles” taking a more active part in the event by acting as emcees as well as helping out with the general operation of the day.
Brisson was encouraged by over 70 new teams getting involved this year and is hopeful that their contribution will carry on into next year’s event.
“It’s our bread and butter fundraiser, it’s important,” said Brisson. “We do this fundraiser at the beginning of February every year, because it sets the tone for the entire year. We hope we can continue.”
Honourary co-chairs for 2013 were boxer, Tony Luis, who was on hand to lend support, while soccer player, Christina Julien, was away playing a game. “Both are huge supporters of our agency, and youth in general, so we thought it would be great to have them.”
Currently serving 446 kids, in the last, there has been a 36 percent increase in youth services by the agency in the area, said Brisson, thanks to the fundraisers and support of the community.
“We’re always looking for volunteers. It doesn’t take as much time as people think,” said Brisson. “It only takes a couple of hours a week to change the life of a kid.”
