Supporters go bowling to raise money for Y Pals

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WORTHINGTON — Josh Shuskey isn’t a regular at the bowling alley.

“This is like my third time ever,” he said. “But I’ll do anything to support a great cause.

“It’s a great experience, it’s totally awesome. To come out here, have some fun and raise money, it’s great. “

On Saturday afternoon, Shuskey took part in the 23rd Annual Bowl for Y Pals at Oxford Bowl. It was the kickoff for the 40th year of the program.

“I came out today because I’m involved in the program and it’s a great program,” Shuskey said.

He has been a mentor in the program for about six months, where he will spend time with his Y Pal at the YMCA playing basketball or lifting weights.

“It’s a great cause,” Shuskey said. “They are struggling at home so we try to get them into a positive environment and we’re always trying to give back to the world that we live in.”

For Worthington Area YMCA Executive Director Andy Johnson, not only was he supporting the program, but spending quality time with his family.

“We have a group from Sanford over here and they doing it as coworkers and coming out and supporting the program,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if we would be spending as much family time today if it weren’t for this event, so it’s a great opportunity for the four of us to be together.”

A few days ago, Johnson sent out an email asking for pledges to support him on Saturday. What he got back was a challenge.

“I thought I should try to raise some extra money because I believe in the program and I want to have other people contribute in the program as well,” he said.

“Just an email out to pretty much everyone I know in the area that might want to support it spurred off some interesting pledges of people saying if I scored an average of this, I’d get this much. It’s really been interesting and it got other people to join in on the challenge and raised a lot more money than if I would have just came and paid the regular fee,” Johnson added.

Johnson was able to reach some of his goals.

“The bowling is always interesting,” he said. “The ball always goes down the alley and that’s the only thing I can be confident in saying. It’s been fun to watch everyone throw their ball down the alley.”

Y Pal Coordinator Greg Wede was pleased with the event.

“It was a very good day,” he said. “A lot of people came out and a lot of Y Pals with their mentors and sponsors sent teams out, too.

“Since the Y took over the mentoring program, what today is and the events during the Regatta is the money we use to do background checks and provide references and do orientation and training of the mentor.”

While Y Pals isn’t as big as some other mentoring programs, Wede sees the impact it makes.

“I’ve been thinking about this off and on this month. The amount of impact when I sit down and think about that my program isn’t that big and I see other programs that have hundreds of kids involved,” he said. “But I sit back and realize the kids who are in the program, it means a world of difference for them.”

Team Sanford Health finished with a combined score of 713 to win the group trophy.

Larry Martinez won the men’s high score with 217, while Cheryl Martinez had a 160 to lead the women. Andrew Johnson won the 11-to-15-year-old division with a 164, while Nicole Wede finished with a 110 to win the 10-and-under division.

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Coordinator Aaron Hagen may be reached at 376-7323.

Tags: raise money, y pals, news, supporters, bowling