BOWLING A TURKEY
For Limerick Bowl, turkey isn’t just a word for hitting three consecutive strikes in a game.
On Thanksgiving, the bowling alley, 653 W. Ridge Pike, along with Crossroads Presbyterian Church, took turkey and turned it into a way to serve those in need.
As the 3rd Annual Turkey Bowl began, guests filed in by the bus loads to enjoy their holiday at Limerick Bowl. The event served over 500 people and in addition to enjoying a traditional holiday dinner of turkey and all the best sides, guests were able to play unlimited rounds of bowling, take advantage of the bowling alley’s arcade games, take photos at the holiday photo booth and enjoy a plethora of homemade treats made by Crossroads Presbyterian Church volunteers.
“Believe it or not, the photo booth is probably the one thing that’s most important to them,” said David Pawson, amission and Evangelisms-ession member with Crossroads Presbyterian Church. “Most of them, when I saw them said they don’t have a family photo and this is their family photo. Last year we couldn’t turn them out fast enough so that’s why we brought the photo booth in so that we could print a little faster.”
The photo booth wasn’t the only new addition for 2016. This year, the organizers received help from Quilts for Kids, a group that
works to provide quilts made from old fabric to children in need.
“Quilts for kids has donated quilts for us to give out to all the kids here. They donated 150 quilts, which is awesome,” said Leah Miller, one of the volunteers with Crossroads Presbyterian Church.
That’s good news to the organizers who say that with each passing year, the number of people they serve continues to climb.
“We have about 540 people signed up to come and last year we served 350 people. The year before we had about 250 so it’s growing every year,” said Miller.
But the event does more than serve the guests who attend.
Chris Buser, general manager of Limerick Bowl, explained that the employees and volunteers are equally excited about how big the event has gotten and how many people it helps.
“Seeing how many people it helps just touches everybody here. It’s a great event,” said Buser. “It ’ s a great partnership we have with the church and it keeps getting bigger every year.”
Pawson explained that the event’s continued success can probably be attributed more to the opportunity it provides than the meals that are given out.
“I think most of the people that come really enjoy that it’s a longer event for them. So they get to do whatever a normal family does like watch football, be together, instead of just a meal. They get to spend time together and they enjoy that,” Pawson added.
According to Rev. Bren- ton Thompson, pastor at Crossroads Presbyterian, the Turkey Bowl can also be credited with bringing strangers together.
“There’s a lane over there of four people and two of them have never even met each other. But there they are bowling and eating together. It’s kind of neat,” said Thompson. “It’s nice to see people of diverse backgrounds spending time together.”
Miller, who played an important role in helping the dinner come to fruition says she wants to see it continue and that the satisfaction of it all makes it worthwhile.
“I like seeing all the smiling faces, seeing all the people and knowing that all these hands were able to work together to provide such a nice event for these people that maybe don’t have that opportunity any other time of year,” said Miller.