Big Brothers and Big Sisters of DeKalb County kicked off its annual Bowl for Kid’s Sake fundraiser at the Holmes Student Center’s Huskies Den Monday night.

The event, which has been a staple in DeKalb County for close to 25 years, began yesterday at 9 p.m. and will continue through this evening.

Bowl for Kid’s Sake is the largest fundraiser for BBBS, which provides mentor services for children. The event provides for 80 percent of their annual budget.

Although the bowling is fun, children are the most important part of the night.

“The best aspect is it’s for the kids. We try to get involved with many organizations to not only give our money, but our time as well,” said Akkowa Alexander, sophomore biology major and a member of the Honors Student Association.

This year the group hopes to raise $100,000 with close to 200 teams and 10,000 individual sponsors.

Each team of four to six people bowls for an hour and then there is a raffle for various prizes at the end of the night. Pizza is also provided for the bowlers, said Brad Rusin, coordinator of Marketing and Special Events for Family Services.

BBBS also had T-shirts and wristbands for sale at the event. The wristbands, with the slogan “Little moments, Big magic,” resembled the popular “LiveStrong” bracelets and were sold for $1.

Groups around campus usually make up the bowling teams that raise money for the charity.

“There is a pretty decent turnout from students and student groups at NIU each year,” Rusin said.

Junior sociology major Stephanie Delhotal got involved not only to help, but because she was interested in the organization.

“I am a sociology major with an emphasis in family and child studies, so I thought it would be something worth doing since working with children is something that I want to do when I graduate,” she said.

Along with the two-day event on campus, BBBS also has three more bowling dates scheduled in DeKalb, Sycamore and Sandwich in early March.

“Currently we have 130 teams registered to participate in all of DeKalb County,” Rusin said.

Those interested in forming a team should call 758-8616 to register and to receive a team packet. Each bowler is expected to raise at lease $75 for the event.