Strikes and splits aren’t the only good things happening at bowling lanes in St. Helens, as for the third year in a row, the St. Helens branch of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) has gathered donations to help local veterans in need. The donations were then converted into Fred Meyers gift cards, which were gifted to local veterans groups.
Rebecca Pickering is the assistant manager of the St. Helens USBC chapter and is one of the fundraiser’s key organizers. Pickering explained how the fundraiser works.
“Our bowlers donate throughout the whole bowling season, and then we gather those funds and send them to our national association, which is the Bowlers to Veterans Link (BVL),” Pickering said. Then we get the majority of that portion back, so we can give to our local veterans. We try to keep our funds within the local community and county.”
Pickering said that they convert the funds to gift cards so the money can be used for “gas, clothing, food, whatever their needs are.” This year, Pickering presented $725 to local veteran groups. Members of the St. Helens and Scappoose Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion accepted the donation at the Fred Meyer in Scappoose on Aug. 9. Pickering described the arrangement as a “great partnership.”
The veterans groups vet the requests from veterans in need to ensure that the funds are going to people who can use them. Kathy Antonich is the historian with the American Legion Post #42 in St. Helens, and she said these additional funds are helpful around the holidays.
“We get requests through different sources, and then we try to vet the requests and come up with families that can particularly benefit from the gift cards,” Antonich said. “Then they can get holiday food or gifts, or things like that. We’ve had some wonderful thank yous and appreciations from the recipients of those gift cards.”
Roger Antonich is the quartermaster for the Scappoose VFW Post and a member of the St. Helens American Legion Post in St. Helens. He said they monitor different situations throughout the county to best assess who needs the funds and how they can help. While the holidays are often a time of need, he and the veterans groups are keeping track of people who are going through hard times and may benefit from a helping hand.
Scappoose VFW trustee April Beardsley was in attendance for the check presentation, and she said that she appreciates the bowling league stepping up.
“It shows that other people in our community can participate and help out also,” Beardsley said. “They represent, and people follow suit. When somebody’s the first person in, and this is something that stands out in our community, then other people want to join in and help out too, so we can reach more veterans in need.”
The representatives of the veterans groups said there are a lot of veterans in Columbia County, and they are thankful for the support that comes from the community. Beardsley said that they want to make sure they are serving not just veterans in need but all veterans in the county. She said that just because they have stopped serving in the military doesn’t mean they’ve stopped serving in the community.
“I think anyway that we can honor veterans through these types of programs, it behooves us to continue that service, and serving other veterans too,” Kathy Antonich said. “Just know they’re not forgotten, and their service is much appreciated.”
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