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BVL Participates in National Veterans Day Activities: Association and Bowling Centers Recognized for their Achievements

For the first time, Bowlers to Veterans Link (BVL) participants in the Veterans Day parade of colors included a representative of America’s bowling centers. Mary Harrar, Executive Administrator with Thunderbird Bowling Centers, a chain of three centers in the Philadelphia area, marched alongside Nation’s Capital Area United States Bowling Congress (USBC) member Sharon Weber as part of the prestigious group of veterans service organizations charged with leading the tribute of activities at Arlington Cemetery.

“Mary and Sharon were great ambassadors for BVL,” explained BVL Board Chair Darlene Baker. “As leaders in the bowling center and association communities respectively, Mary and Sharon were beacons to illustrate all of our volunteers across the country who are committed to our mission to support our nation’s active duty and veteran service men and women.”

The Thunderbird Lanes BVL campaign, coordinated by Harrar, resulted in the largest single donation from bowling centers to BVL of almost $6,000. The Nation’s Capital Area USBC was once again the top association contributor for the year, with over $19,000 in donations.

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The BVL is an associate member of the Veterans Day National Committee, which is charged with the coordination and promotion of Veterans Day events, and as such is accorded representatives in the presidential color guard.

“It was an honor and a privilege to be part of this ceremony,” noted Harrar. “BVL and its mission are very close to my heart, but it really hits home when you see the veterans and their families filling the Amphitheatre and witnessing the wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It's a poignant picture, and one I will treasure in the years ahead.”

The Bowlers to Veterans Link was founded in 1942 to raise money for medical evacuation planes to ferry the wounded home from the battlefields of Europe. For more than 60 years, BVL has supported a variety of recreational and therapeutic programs designed to improve the lives of America’s veterans. BVL is headquartered in Metropolitan Washington, D.C.