Senior co-leader Caleb Mesick said Natural Helpers has been wanting to do volunteer work in order to help more than just students at Park.

“We felt like we wanted to do things more outside the school because we strictly focus on inside the school so we felt this was a good outlet to help more than Park students,” Mesick said.

Senior co-leader Jasmine Tchida said Reach, a non-profit organization, hosted the Bowl-A-Thon April 21 at Park Tavern.

“Reach (is) a non-profit organization for people with Down Syndrome or mental disabilities. It was their annual fundraiser. Every year they have a Bowl-A-Thon to raise money. There were other volunteers there besides Natural Helpers,” Tchida said.

According to Tchida, Reach invited Natural Helpers to participate in the Bowl-A-Thon after she had asked about volunteer work for a different program she is associated with.

“I’m in another program outside of school where I had to organize a service project, and I asked Reach if they had anything for me, but they didn’t at the time,” Tchida said. “A couple of months later, they sent me an email about the Bowl-A-Thon coming up, and the leaders had just gotten done with meeting about how they wanted to do more volunteer things.”

Senior Natural Helpers member Jeremy Robb said he hopes Natural Helpers will be able to find more volunteering opportunities, not only to help those in need but to bring Natural Helpers closer as a team.

“If we can have other fun opportunities and get to talk to people, then yes I do wish for more of that,” Robb said. “It’s a good way to bring us together because we aren’t doing anything as a group, Natural Helpers.”

Robb said Natural Helpers was at the event to help cheer for the bowlers and give out prizes.

“I handed out prizes when they got strikes, helped them find their t-shirt sizes, if they didn’t know what to get I suggested stuff to them,” Robb said. “Some of the other people, they went out and helped cheer on certain groups when they got strikes or spares. They were just uplifting.”

According to Robb, the Bowl-A-Thon revealed the kinder nature of people.

“It was awesome, I’ve never been able to do something like that before and it showed me a different side of people. All of the people there were so nice and uplifting to other people. It was awesome to be able to feel like I was able to help out with something,” Robb said.

Tchida said of all the events she has been to, the ones where she can interact with people are her favorite because she can see the effect of her participation.

“I always found that working with the little kids or people with disabilities, the ones where I can interact with people, are the most exciting,” Tchida said. “I could see a lot of the people who went to the Bowl-A-Thon were regulars for Reach. I get to see who takes part in the program, where the money goes, and how the program makes them happy.”

According to Robb, the Bowl-A-Thon was an event that helps people, which represents Natural Helpers goals.

“We are trying to help out people, not necessarily people with problems but just people, human to human. The whole Bowl-A-Thon encompassed what we wanted to accomplish in the school,” Robb said.