Move over Laverne and Shirley, take a break Lenny and Squigy, the SCV-Newhall Optimist Club is calling for enthusiastic bowlers. So, mark the date, it’s February 17th to slide into your bowling shoes and onto the lanes in the first annual Bowl-A-Thon to be held at the Santa Clarita Lanes in Saugus. Money raised at the Bowl-A-Thon will benefit the Heads Up therapy horse riding program, a Saugus ranch that helps disabled children improve balance, muscle tone, hand-and-eye coordination and self-confidence.
Nancy Pitchford, Newhall, who says she has always had horse manure in her veins followed her passion for horses and founded the program 20 years ago.
“I was going through a tough time in my life when I bought my horse, Dusty. After I started working with special education children on the week-ends giving them riding lessons on Dusty, I was hooked. I knew what I wanted to do and eventually quit my corporate day job to devote all my time to the ranch,” says Pitchford.
Heads Up also works with the Valencia courts and their community service agency for teens, providing them with the opportunity to work and train in their volunteer program, rather than paying fines. The ranch also offered workshops to more than 100 William S. Hart special education students last year.
If you want to participate in the Bowl-A-Thon and help this worthy cause, secure a minimum of five sponsors and expect to bowl three games. Prizes will be awarded for top dollar earners.
The primary emphasis of the SCV-Newhall Optimist Club is to help children of all needs. Other programs they participate in are an essay and oratorical contest, kid print, food and toy drives, childhood cancer, Optimist blind youth olympics and more.
If you’re anything like the Laverne and Shirley characters and remember their theme song lyrics, “We’re gonna make our dreams come true,” or in this case, “You’re gonna make their dreams come true,” then its time to secure Bowl-A-Thon sponsors and circle February 17th on your calendar for the event.
For further information on the Bowl-A-Thon, call Michael Holt at 661-236-7265 or visit www.scv-optimist.org. To volunteer and inquire about therapy at the Heads Up Ranch, call Pitchford at 661-251-1967.