The Niles Four Flags USBC Bowling Association sponsored the 5th Annual Bowl for the Cure event, which was hosted by Joey Armadillo’s Bowling Center on Saturday.

Final figures will not be ready for a couple of weeks, but they have already hit the $11,000 mark, which will be donated to the Southwest Michigan Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure to help under insured or people with no insurance be able to get mammograms.

Early detection is the key to saving lives and this event will do exactly that — save local lives.

More than 270 bowlers came to dance, bowl and have a great time and raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Entertainment was provided by Pic-A-Dilyz (Erika and Larry Pickles), the national anthem was sung by Roger “Fuzzy” Gray and donations from many local businesses and individuals were donated for raffles and auctions.

Many local businesses also purchased banners to sponsor lanes and show their support.

This was an all-around community event and people from all over did a great job of showing that they support breast cancer survivors and helped promote awareness of this overwhelming disease.

Survivors present were Ruth Williams, Sandy Haase, Sandy Warren, Carolyn Goodman, Sandy Dickey, Diane Rose, Wanda Davis and Cheryl Culp.

All were presented with a gift from the NFFUSBC and thanked for showing that you can beat this disease if detected early enough.