St. John’s ROTC students and members of the community gathered for a night of bowling and fun at Jib Lanes on Parsons Boulevard to raise money for a local charity on Oct. 29.
“The whole point of the project was to tie in the local community, St. John’s ROTC, and a cause,” Gaspar Teri, the lead organizer of the event said.
The St. John’s ROTC program, under the guidance of LTC Joseph Pishock and MSG Jariko Denman, proposed a challenge that involved helping an organization, a community, or veterans, explained Teri in a follow-up email. “We as a group found a way to include all those things and even animals.”
As far as proceeds, “a positive number, for this positive event,” would be enough, Teri said. While only twenty-five people came to bowl and support the cause, the event was able to raise over $500.
“The community support was excellent…it really helped us complete the night,” Teri said.
Jenny Kim, president of We Are One 365 at St. John’s, also helped plan the event.
“We helped support this, get the word out,” she said. “We got in touch with the Student Veteran’s Association, to have veterans come out and support this great cause for Guardians of Rescue.”
We Are One 365, reached out to Guardians of Rescue for the event as an assignment for their military science class.
“It was Gaspar (Terri)’s idea for our group project for our military science class,” Kim said.
At first the group was considering to do their project on military animals that come back from deployment, Kim said. They wanted to “raise money for dogs that come back handicap,” or “supply them with like any surgery, or find them a new home.”
Instead, they opted for a local organization that had similar impacts, Guardians of Rescue, because it had greater involvement.
According to their website, Guardians of Rescue is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating programs and activities that better the relationship between people and animals.
The fundraiser was held as part of the organization’s Veterans and Military Affairs efforts, otherwise known as “Home Again: Operation Support Our Troops.”
All of the event’s proceeds, from the entrance fee to the raffle ticket purchases, will be donated to support the program.
Raffle prizes included St. John’s gear, gift certificates from community-wide businesses, such as Applebee’s, Five Guys, Starbucks, Panera Bread, Qdoba, Buffalo Wild Wings and tickets from the NY Islanders and AMC Theaters. All of the donations totaled $1,500.
