Those who have ever pursued furthering their educations by attending a college or a university can attest to the financial perils they can sometimes face when embarking on such an endeavor.

Between the costs of classes, books, room and board, most young students need to learn to master the art of frugality while simultaneously learning the methods of begging, borrowing and selling used books on Amazon.

Paying for college can be a tremendously stressful event for all parties involved. For the young student, its coming to grips with the fact that they’re on the hook for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to do an activity that entails exams and homework.

To the parents, their dreams of flying to Buenos Aires are grounded when Junior needs help with covering the cost of books and tuition.

Luckily for the Niles Four Flags USBC Youth bowlers, the participants of the Thursday Niles City B men’s and the Ladies Night Out leagues at Joey Armadillo’s, as well as a few other businesses in the area, recognize the potential hardships involved with paying for college and have devised a plan to help with the financial burdens.

The leagues hosted their Fifth Annual Raffle for the Youth event Dec. 23 and raised $995 toward their cause.

With their earnings from the previous years tallied in, the leagues have raised $2,495 in scholarships for youth bowlers heading off to college.

For their part, the organizers of the fundraiser are both humbled by the outpouring of support shown by the community and proud of their contributions made toward the betterment of the kids’ futures.

“Unreal, it’s just unreal. It is amazing to see what everyone in these leagues, this association and this community is truly capable of. To think this whole thing started on a whim and now, now it has grown into this. It’s unbelievable,” said Niles City B league secretary Dave Lembke.

Youth director Donna Medlin was also pleased with the outcome of this year’s event.

“It makes me feel great. This is such a great, a great opportunity to give our kids a scholarship to go on and improve their education. It makes my heart just swell,” she said.

When asked about the outlook of this event in the future Lembke was very optimistic that the raffle would continue to gain traction in the community and continue its upward trend.

“This event has gotten bigger every year and I really believe it will continue to grow. The sponsors are great, the bowlers are great and the bowling community is just fantastic when it comes to supporting the youth. So yeah, I think this thing will just get better and better,” he said.

It is important to note that the success of this event, year in and year out is predicated upon the donations received from local businesses and individuals. With that, the leagues would like to thank O.K. Distribution of Dowagiac, Nate Wines of Dowagiac, Lowery’s Meat Market of Buchanan, Wings ETC, Kevin Young of Niles and Joey Armadillo’s for all the contributions made to this year’s event.