I remember as a kid watching Duckpins and Dollars on the TV.   Duckpins and Dollars was a local edition out of Baltimore, Maryland of the better known Bowling for Dollars.  The bowling aficionados among you may recall the New England local version: Candlepins for Cash.  Yes I know it sounds a bit geeky to be a kid watching bowling on television but face it – there wasn’t all that much on back then!  But I digress…..way back then that show was sort of a big thing but I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be bowling for dollars.  In fact I didn’t think that right up to about five minutes before it happened! 

 

On Saturday October 4^th, a bunch of Old Town Rotarians and Old Town Kiwanians converged on Family Fun Bowling Center in Bangor to participate in the Bangor Kiwanis Charity Fund Bowling Tournament.  The fund was being dissolved and they wanted to create awareness of the other local charitable organizations by doling out the remaining monies through this fun and exciting tournament.  Ten teams were to be assembled from the ten participating organizations and each team would win at least some money for the charity of their choice – anywhere from $1,000 for last place to $10,000 for first place.

 

Old Town Rotary and Old Town Kiwanis, under the superb direction of our own Peter Bosse, joined forces to win some of the cash for Crossroads Ministries to help our neighbors in need.  It was with this intent that we all showed up in the cold drizzle on Saturday afternoon.  Even if we came in 9^th and 10^th we knew we would win $3,000 for this great cause and that was worth a few hours of our time.  DJ and Becky’s kids came along to cheer on the bowlers, as did Jack Larsen who came with mom Corina and I, camera in hand as usual, with Dave.  We were all four prepared to cheer hard.  Then things got ugly!!!  With only minutes to go before the tournament started, two bowlers had not shown.  Suddenly Jack and I were stuffed into bowling shoes and directed to our assigned lanes.  What the heck????  Neither of us had ever bowled ten pin.  The others gave us a few quick pointers and the tournament started.

 

It was a great time and everyone was cheering loudly for all the bowlers whether they were on your team or not; after all, in the end all the money was going to great causes and we all shared the spirit of giving that had brought us there in the first place.  When the dust settled we waited anxiously for the results.  We knew we could get 9^th and 10^th place for a total of $3,000 just by showing up and throwing gutter balls, but Peter had deftly arranged the teams putting the best bowlers on one team and those of us with unknown or questionable talent on the other.  That would insure us 10th place and hopefully get us a little higher than 9th with the “good” team for a few extra dollars.  It seemed like a great plan!  Then more good news....Bangor Kiwanis announced that the winnings for each place were raised another $500.  Beyond our hopes, our “good” team slid into 2^nd place for a $9,500 purse!!!!

 

The “bad” team…..well we had heart.  I had a 6 after two frames.  I fell once and bruised my knee which I am sad to say the professional photographer on hand managed to catch on film, twisted my ankle, had a ton of fun, and I bowled 105.  I’m actually kind of proud of that as I did beat President Corina!!  Hey when you are on the “bad” team you take your joy from the little things – like beating the president.  But the real story was Little Jack.  Not only did he bowl for dollars – something I could only dream of as a kid - but his effort earned us an extra $500 and he was awarded two tickets to the Penobscot Theater!!!  We were on the “bad” team and no one expected much of us but we earned another $2,000 to add to the “good” teams winnings.

 

Peter proudly presented $11,500 to the Crossroads Ministries and they were extremely excited.  They have been in desperate need of a new cooler to keep the food and had someone to build it, but no money to fund it.  Now they have both!  They are currently aiding more than 750 families and more than 2,000 people in the local area.  For the mere cost of a few hours of our time, packed with fun and fellowship to boot, we can all be very proud knowing that Old Town Rotary and Old Town Kiwanis will be helping local people in need for a long, long time to come.  Thanks to everyone who bowled for this great cause; thanks to Peter who put much time and energy into securing bowlers and orchestrating us into teams that could do the most good; big thanks to Family Fun Bowling Center for DONATING the entire 20 lanes of the facility and the shoes for the bowlers; and many thanks to the Bangor Kiwanis Charity Fund for their wonderful event that will help so many people.

 

The teams and winners are listed below and of note you will see that two teams played for Sarah’s House – another cause near and dear to this club.  I managed to take a few photos in between frames and they are posted in a photo album on the web home page and also in the bulletin.  There was a professional photographer as well who has photos available for viewing and purchase.  I am pretty sure there are some great candid ‘blackmail’ pictures in there!   Just click on the camera to the left and it will take you to the album the photographer created for us.   

 

   

      

 

 

 

1^st  place- Brewer Kiwanis $11,000 for Camp Capella

3^rd place- Central Maine Roller Derby $8,500 for Skate Don’t Hate

4^th place- Hampden Kiwanis $7,500 for Sarah’s House

5^th place- Bangor Breakfast Rotary $6,500 for Brewer Food Pantry

6^th place- Wayne’s Wiffle for a Wish $5,500 for Make a Wish Maine

7^th place- Bangor Noon Rotary $4,500 for Sarah’s House

8^th place- BARN $3,500 for Bangor Area Recovery Network

9^th place- Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis $2,500 for The Shepherd’s Godparent Home   

                                                            and The Penobscot Theater Dramatic Academy