By Maggie Devereux
Staff Writer
Lace up your bowling shoes and grab a ball. The Second annual Fall Bowling Extravaganza fundraiser for the district 214 Community Education Foundation will take place on this coming Saturday, October 10. It begins at 7:00 at Arlington Lanes in Arlington Heights.
The event includes three games of bowling, dinner, and shoe rentals. There will also be lots of bowling lane games, 50/50 raffles, and pass the cash.  All teams are welcome, it’s $40 a person, or $80 per couple. Sponsorship is offered too, and a lane can be sponsored for $50.
The goal of the event is to continue to raise funds to carry out the foundations goal. Their mission is to secure the financial and community resources to support lifelong learning opportunities.
The target goal is around $5,000.The money raised from the bowling fundraiser will help to fill in the gaps that grants cannot cover in some of the programs the Community Ed. Foundation runs. This includes their women program, that helps teach women computer skills and English. By doing this, they try to help the women succeed and find careers.
Another program, “Kids on Track” is run by the foundation. This program supplies fun and learning over the summer for children whose parents work at the Arlington Heights race track.
This is the second year for the bowling extravaganza, and members of the foundation hope for it to be more successful than last year.
“We didn’t have as many people as we wanted.” said board president Maureen Jennings. Last year’s total came to around $2,500, which is hoped to be doubled.
Jennings will be attending the event on Saturday, and participating with her team.
“We want to raise awareness,” she said on the event. This and other events such as the Mount Prospect Golf Classic help to make aware the need for continuing education in our district.
Although this year the golf classic was rained out, the Community Education foundation raised approximately $8,000. More  people are aware of the golf outing, and the same hopes for the bowling extravaganza are held. The difference between the two are the type of people interested. Bowling is more couple oriented, while the golf outing was mainly men.
“I was the only woman golfer,” said Jennings. She and other board members hope that this event will increase the awareness and support for the foundation. All of the events are fun to participate in, and she knows the funds are going to a cause she supports.
“It’s like I’m giving back,” Jennings said.