Bowling to Fill Bowls for the Hungry

Now through January 3, you can help raise money to feed people in need by snacking while you bowl at these participating bowling alleys.

Seven bowling alleys in New Jersey are teaming up with Feeding America to raise money for people struggling to feed their families. The program is called the Jingle Bowl.

Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, with 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs across the country.

Now through January 3, when you buy certain designated food items at participating bowling alleys, $1 will be donated to Feeding America. The group has committed itself to contributing at least $50,000 to fight hunger this holiday season.

The participating alleys (all under one corporate roof) are Bowlmor in Green Brook; Bowlero in North Brunswick; AMF Strathmore Lanes in Aberdeen; and Brunswick Lanes in Belleville, Deptford, Hazlet and Turnersville.

The designated menu items will vary depending on location, but could include the kid’s snack box of a beverage, chicken tenders, mac n’ cheese bites or mozzarella sticks, and a cookie. Another possible candidate is the Bowlmor Alley Sampler, which Bowlmor vice president Colie Edison calls “an awesome mash-up of our favorite appetizers,” including sweet potato tater tots with cinnamon sugar; saucy wing-a-ma-bobs; beef nachos; Muenster cheese sticks; and chicken tenders.

One of every eight people in America deals with daily hunger, including 13 million children, according to Feeding America. Here in Jersey, Feeding America estimates that more than 1 million people, or nearly 12 percent of the population, are faced with what they call “food insecurity,” defined as “lack of access to enough food for an active healthy life for all household members, and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.”

The problem is not confined to those who qualify for federal nutrition assistance. Every day, Feeding America says, millions of working people are forced to choose between buying food and having enough to pay for housing, utilities, gas or public transportation, clothing, medicine and other necessities.

Feeding America says that a single, healthy, home-cooked meal in New Jersey can cost between $2.80 and $3.75, depending on county.

Bowlmor’s motto, says Edison, is “the holidays are better when families bowl together.”

“This year, nationwide, Feeding America has been able to provide 4 billion meals,” Edison adds. “It’s a really great partnership, because the holidays are all about bringing families together. We see a great synergy between what we do—providing fun in people lives—and partnering with an organization that provides hunger relief.”

feedingamerica.org

 jingle-bowl.com

Bowlmor
bowlmor.com

380 US Highway 22
Green Brook

 Bowlero
bowlero.com

1 Carolier Lane
North Brunswick

 AMF Strathmore Lanes
amf.com

1061-g Route 34
Aberdeen

Brunswick Lanes
bowlbrunswick.com

679 Washington Avenue
Belleville

1328 Delsea Drive
Deptford

1400 Route 36
Hazlet

100 American Boulevard
Turnersville

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