Every year, the Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition presents a home-town afternoon of fun, entertainment, and surprises that also manages to raise money to help in the regional fight against hunger and homelessness.
On Friday, February 6, the Coalition presents SuperBowl-A-Thon XIII at the AMF Bay Shore Lanes in Santa Monica. Almost 500 bowlers on teams representing a variety of businesses, social service agencies, and local government groups will be competing in the 13th annual event that covers 24 bowling lanes in four sessions from 1 to 6:30 p.m.
Spectators are welcome, and there will be raffles throughout the afternoon for weekend getaways, local dining, and a host of other prizes. The Bay Shore Lanes are at 234 Pico Boulevard across from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
Community leaders who will bowl include Santa Monica’s Police Chief Timothy Jackman and Fire Chief Jim Hone, who stage an annual police/fire challenge both for their individual scores and for the departments’ team scores. SM Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Laurel Rosen will be on the lanes, as will SM Convention & Visitors Bureau President Misti Kerns. The Big Blue Bus fields strong teams every year, keglers from local hotels stage their own challenge, and the afternoon includes additional civic leaders, nonprofit organizations, and local youth.
Bowlers compete both as individuals and with their teams for high score prizes, and prizes are also awarded to those top pledge gatherers for the overall four sessions. The 5 p.m. session will have the Viceroy Hotel defending the Hospitality Trophy won with their high team score in last year’s SuperBowl-A-Thon XII.
It was announced at last year’s tournament that the Bay Shore Lanes would be renovated before this year’s SuperBowl-A-Thon, but for one reason or another the face-lift did not occur, so the venue remains as comfortably home-town retro as the sport of bowling and face-offs between police and fire departments. And all for a good cause.
Coalition Chairman John Maceri, who is executive director of OPCC in his “day job,” called the SuperBowl-A-Thon “a tremendous opportunity to meet and greet everyone in town, have a lot of fun,” and enjoy a community mixture of “all ages.” He also pointed out that the Coalition contributes to the important cold weather shelter programs on the Westside and that the bowling event is the Coalition’s “biggest fundraiser of the year.”
The bowling marathon brings together the private and public sectors in an effort to eradicate homelessness in Santa Monica and transform the community. First Federal Bank of California is the “Perfect Game” title sponsor for the sixth consecutive year, and CapitalSource Bank, The Lobster, Morley Builders, Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Santa Monica Police Officers’ Association are “Strike” sponsors. The 2009 “Spare” level sponsors are: Harding Larmore Mullen Jakle Kutcher & Kozal, LLP; Kaiser Permanente; Le Merigot, a JW Marriott Beach Hotel & Spa; Pacific Park; and Venice Family Clinic.
Proceeds from SuperBowl-A-Thon XIII will benefit the Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition’s efforts to strengthen services to homeless and at-risk men, women, and families through education, advocacy, and service coordination. The Coalition is an alliance of more than 30 organizations representing local human service nonprofits, government agencies, and faith communities committed to ending hunger and homelessness on the Westside.
