What are you doing this Thursday night? Why not Spare-A-Night for the Children’s Miracle Network? This Thursday, April 8, Phi Mu, a sorority here at WCU, is hosting a rock-n-bowl at the Downingtown Palace Bowling and Entertainment Center from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. It promises to be a fun night and will benefit many children in need. Tickets are $15 and the proceeds for the event will go to the Childrenøs Hospital of Philadelphia, a member of the Children’s Miracle Network. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is one of more than 170 children’s hospitals across North America connected with the Children’s Miracle Network. The network, a non-profit organization, supports these hospitals by raising money to help with the day-to-day running costs and also supplements care for patients. The money donated through CMN goes to the hospitals to help pay for research and equipment costs and also for charity care, or helping kids with illnesses and injuries get the care that they need even if they can’t afford it. Most of the money the network raises comes from one or two dollar donations from many people.
Phi Mu hopes that the rock-n-bowl will raise over $1,000 for the hospital. The entire Downingtown Palace has been rented out so that all the lanes and the dance floor space will be available only to those supporting the event. Your $15 allows you to bowl for four hours and includes your shoe and ball rental. Music will be provided by a DJ, who will be there from start to finish and willing to take requests. Unlimited pizza and soda will also be provided.
Numerous contests will be held throughout the evening, including who can bowl the most strikes and who can get the most gutter balls. No need to worry if you don’t know the rules, as the Palace provides automatic scoring. There is also a dance floor and video games at the Palace for those who don’t want to bowl all night. West Chester students are invited to bring friends and everyone is welcome at the event. There is plenty of room at the Palace, so make sure to bring a friend or two.
Tickets are available through IGC/Panhellenic Thursday at 5:15 p.m. and at the door. Phi Mu philanthropy chair Rebecca Hartung is willing to answer any questions about the event and encourages students to contact her or any other Phi Mu sister for information about tickets or the event in general. Rebecca can be reached at phimuturbo@yahoo.com.
Hartung (who heads up the fundraising for Phi Mu) and her sisters are very excited about the event. “Children from all over come to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to get better and CMN helps to make that happen. . . It could touch our lives in very simple ways. It’s a great way to have fun and feel good about doing something amazing for someone who needs it,” says Hartung.
Community support is vital to the fundraising for the Children’s Miracle Network. WCU has this opportunity as a community to come together and raise money to make sure a child with cancer, or muscular dystrophy, or diabetes, or heart defects will receive the best care available. Please come support the CMN.
The Downingtown Palace Bowling and Entertainment Center is located at 977 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown. For directions go the Palace’s Web site at www.palacebowling.com or contact Rebecca Hartung or another sister of Phi Mu. So bring your dancing and your bowling shoes along to The Palace to have a fun night supporting CMN and the kids at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.