Many have asked why the bowling fees were increased or questioned whether or not a fee could be charged to the athlete per Special Olympics policy. Per SO policy a fee can not be charged to the athlete in order for him/her to participate but any fee charged to the program in order to conduct practice and/or to train the athlete can be passed on to the athlete. This is exactly what the bowling fee is – the cost of the 3 games and shoe rental per practice charged by the bowling center. This fee is to be paid by September 30th and will cover bowling practice up to the state tournament scheduled for December 5th. Why the increase? There are several reasons. 1) For the past several years the program has ended the year in a deficit, has depleted it’s reserve and can no longer afford the cost without cancelling a sports program(s). 2) Due to severe weather the night before and the day of the Polar Plunge this past February, we did not raise the funds projected. 3) Our program participation has grown to approximately 224 athletes, bowling has become our largest sports program, we’ve added new sports over the years (which have increased our costs) but, unfortunately the number of volunteers to help with fundraisers has not grown. As our participation grows our fundraising efforts need to grow and we cannot do this without volunteers.
Opportunity to have your bowling fees reduced or eliminated.
We have the opportunity to increase our fundraising with the addition of the walkin taco booth at the Farmer’s Fair. To pull this off successfully we need volunteers! So here is your opportunity to reduce and/or eliminate your bowling fees – you and/or a parent/family member work a shift or two at the walkin taco booth at either/both the Fall Fest and/or Farmers Fair and we will reimburse you $25 for each shift worked. In October we will be selling holiday wreaths, sell $250 worth and we will reimburse you $25, sell $500 and we will reimburse you $50!
