Students and community members gathered pledges from family and friends during Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s bowl-a-thon fundraiser held annually to support students with disabilities within the district.
The event ran from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Rancho Bowl in Santa Maria on Oct. 16. Eight classes of students from different grade levels bowled in small teams with coaches from the community and school district. Rancho Bowl provided six lanes with bumpers, ramps, and other adaptations for the students who needed them.
Money raised from the bowl-a-thon allows the district’s students with disabilities to participate in community-based instruction field trips, such as visiting the grocery store, restaurants, and the Laundromat, and riding the bus. Students are able to practice their social and life skills, as well as improve their independence during the outings.
Last year’s bowl-a-thon raised $10,000 for the students’ community education program. The event is named the Dick Wicks’ Memorial Strike a Partnership Bowl-A-Thon after longtime coordinator of special education for Santa Maria-Bonita, Dick Wicks, who passed away in 1996.
This article appears in Oct 17-24, 2013.
