Big Brothers Big Sisters Continues Bowling For Kids

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — “Big Brothers Big Sisters” continued their three-day Bowling For Kids event Saturday afternoon at Sunrise Strikes.

Executive Director Jenni Masterson said they are hoping to raise as much money as they did last year as all the money goes to supporting their matches. It costs approximately $1,000 to support the match between one kid and their big brother or sister. The cost includes screening, volunteer coaching, training and activities for the ‘bigs’ and ‘littles’.

“Well today is ‘Bowl for Kids’ Day. This is our second day in, we have 131 teams total but we have about 40 teams here today. Our ‘bigs’ and ‘littles’ are bowling today and our goal to reach what we made last year, which is $86K, we are halfway there so we’re doing really great and we’re excited to have everybody out here today supporting our programs,” said Masterson.

Masterson also discussed the important of Big Brother Big Sisters in the community and the impact that their programs have on local youth.

“Well ‘Big Brothers Big Sisters’ is such a great mentorship program because we take a child that’s facing adverse conditions and match them with someone that will mentor them. And it’s helping them avoid risky behaviors, it helps them do better in school, it gives them someone that they can talk to and look up to, and I think we’re just really helping a lot of kids. We’ve seen a lot of great benefits in both of our community based and our school based programs,” added Masterson.

Masterson encouraged anyone interested in becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister to contact their office at (740)453-7300. She says they still currently have 79 kids on their waiting list after making four new matches recently, and it’s equally as rewarding for the bigs as it is for the littles.

The final day of the Bowling For Kids event is this Wednesday, April 12. You can still register teams by contacting the Big Brothers Big Sisters office.