Bowl for a Child: The takeoff of the Boston Action Center

VIBHA BOSTON

Our first fundraiser, Bowl for a Child, was to take place at Boston Bowl on March 10th, 2012. Even though the Boston Action Center was in its infancy, Arvind, Prabhu, and I seized to opportunity to have our first fundraiser.

With only one week to pull it off, we sent out emails in bulk to the Google group, our loved ones, and promoted the event at local meetups.  Avneesh, a volunteer from the Google group, promised to retrieve 10 people from his company, but ended up exceeding this! As the days passed, more and more people joined the Google group and incrementally contacted us.  We were hopeful.

And at last, the day arrived, and people started coming in. We hung large promotional banners, and gave out T-shirts.   The digital bowling alleys were activated as enough people to utilize a lane materialized.  Many “Ooh!”s and “Aah!”s could be heard amidst the fun as people starting bowling strikes.  We also had cake and pizza; everyone was happy and hyped.

Financially, it was a reasonably successful event, with 26 people arriving.  Still, our primary focus was on recruiting volunteers, without worrying much about funds.

Finally, everyone wore their T-shirts and posed for a picture with the banner of Vibha. Many people showed enthusiasm to volunteer in the Action Center in an overall successful event!