The 25th annual Copper Country Bowl for Kids event will take place on Saturday, March 18. The fundraising event sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters will be held at the Mine Shaft bowling alley, with bowling times starting at 12 p.m. 2:30 p.m., and 5 p.m.
The minimum donation is $37 per bowler, with four to eight people making up a team. Donations over $50 will earn a Bowl for Kids t-shirt. Various gift baskets, certificates and other items donated by local businesses will also be available to bid on during the event’s ongoing silent auction.
The Copper Country Bowl for Kids event began in 1992 as a way to raise start-up funds for the local BBBS program and has continued to raise funds annually to sustain the program. Maggie Munch, BBBS Program Director for the Copper Country region said this year’s overall fundraising goal for Bowl for Kids is $32,000.
“Every penny that we raise goes toward mentoring programs for youth and the communities in the Copper Country,” said Munch.
U.P. Kids, a sponsored affiliate of BBBS, offers two core mentoring programs: high five mentoring and traditional mentoring.
High-five mentoring is a school-based program where high school students are matched with elementary students. The mentoring program is built into students’ school day once a week with the goal of intentionally placing additional caring people into the students’ lives to boost their self-confidence and foster positive relationships. U.P. Kids and BBBS have seen improvements in students’ behavior, attitude toward school, grades and relationships with peers and adults as a result of the high-five mentorship program.
Currently there are approximately 185 high school students matched to elementary students in the Copper Country region. “The high-five program is awesome because it’s double-impact,” said Munch. “The high school students who are participating in the program are benefiting just as much, maybe even more than the elementary school students. They’re learning about community service and giving back to others, they’re contributing to healthier school environments, and they’re also gaining a sense of self-worth.”
Traditional mentoring is a community-based program and BBBS’s main mentoring program nationwide. In the Copper Country region, approximately 40 children are matched with community members as a big/little pair annually. After that, there is a waitlist. “We have a lot of Michigan Tech students, faculty, and staff who are volunteers in this program who serve as big brothers and big sisters, but one of the biggest obstacles for the traditional mentoring program is a shortage of volunteers,” said Munch. “We need more big brothers and big sisters.” Community members interested in volunteering as mentors can apply online through the U.P. Kids website.
In addition to support of BBBS’s mentorship programs through participation as mentors, the Michigan Tech community also makes up one-third of the bowlers in attendance at the Bowl for Kids event. The Michigan Tech local sorority, Alpha Delta Alpha, shows their support of BBBS through their annual Alpha Delta Alpha Bowl for Kids College Challenge. Their goal is to encourage other Michigan Tech students to form bowling teams and raise more money than their organization. The college team who succeeds in raising the most money wins a $100 gift certificate to the local restaurant of their choice.
Alpha Delta Alpha has won the challenge every year since its conception. Their record year for fundraising was 2016 with team donations totaling $2,729 including alumni contributions. Munch said the hard work of planning and fundraising is done before the actual Bowl for Kids event occurs. The event itself is a celebration and thank you to the community. “We just want people to realize that when they’re involved with BBBS, they are participating in providing healthier futures for young people, which then contributes to cycles of healthy communities.”
