Approximately 120 bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission’s life-saving work. The event took place on March 7 from 2 to 5 p.m. at 30315 Euclid Ave. As part of the event, for $30, bowlers enjoyed bo wling, shoes, food and drinks at no extra cost. Bowlers collected pledges per frame or per game, as well as Amazon gift cards awarded to the top three fundraisers. The event also featured a colored pin contest, a 50-50 raffle and an auction basket raffle. According to Nick Ajdinovich, director of events and fundraisers for Sub Zero, this year was Bowl for the Mission’s third year. So far, this year’s event was Sub Zero’s biggest turnout. “Hopefully next year, we’re going to rent out all 40 lanes,” Ajdinovich said. “Our first year, I think it was 52 (bowlers) and last year, 82. It keeps growing and people have a good time. They’re going to pass it on and then hopefully, we’ll have more bowlers next year.” Bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission's life-saving work. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission's life-saving work. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission's life-saving work. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission's life-saving work. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Show Caption1 of 4Bowlers recently filled up the lanes at Wickliffe Lanes for Bowl the Mission, an event hosted by The Sub Zero Mission to support the mission's life-saving work. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Expand Ajdinovich said this year’s event saw many returning bowlers and roughly 80 volunteers who help with all of Sub Zero’s fundraisers. “That group is called The Bears and our joke is the Bears have been in hibernation over the winter. So this is the first event we’re coming out of hibernation, and we’re getting fundraising going again,” he said. “We do fundraising from March to November and we have seven fundraisers every year.” Throughout the winter, Sub Zero goes out to give warming items to the homeless. Ajdinovich said about 30 outreach missions are done every winter, with more than 30,000 warming items given to the homeless. “The money we make from this event goes toward those outreach missions,” he said. “It could be vehicle maintenance, boots we didn’t have, sleeping bags or coats, so the money raised today goes directly to those outreach missions.” Sub Zero has gained many followers on Facebook and LinkedIn, where all events are announced. Additionally, a digital sign outside the Painesville headquarters announces events. “Normally, between email blasts, posts and our sign, people come out and see what we do,” Ajdinovich said. “They support us because they believe in what we’re trying to do every winter. The feedback is always positive.” Sub Zero’s Homeless Veteran Re-Empowerment Program, HVRP, was introduced last year. “The goal with that is when we’re out on our missions, we now talk to the homeless and find out if that person’s a veteran,” Ajdinovich said. “If that person’s a veteran, we try to reconnect them with the VA to get them off the streets and find them a job.” Ajdinovich said he’s been involved with charities for more than 30 years and came to Sub Zero about five years ago. “I like doing fundraising,” he said. “In addition to this, we have a reverse raffle, golf outing, 5K race and motorcycle run to raise the money we need to do our missions. You meet a lot of great people.” Ajdinovich is also a Blue Coat for Sub Zero, going out on winter missions to deliver items to the homeless. “That’s rewarding,” he said. “The homeless are always thankful when we deliver items to them. It’s a shame we have to deal with that problem. There’s a lot of different organizations helping out the homeless and we work with all those organizations.” ...read more read less