'Happy Birthday, Megan': Bowling Benefit Raises Money for Scholarship Fund
Family and friends gather to honor the late Megan Hurckes with a birthday bowling benefit at Arena Lanes on Saturday.
This Saturday, the friends and family of Megan Hurckes are honoring her birthday by doing one of her favorite past times – bowling.
Megan is the late daughter of former Oak Lawn trustee Jerry Hurckes. Since Megan’s death at age ten in 2009, Hurckes, her mom, Mary Ann, and big sister, Jenna, have celebrated Megan’s birthday by raising money for a good cause.
The Hurckeses are taking over Arena Lanes to raise money for the Megan Hurckes Scholarship Fund. Rather than mourn her death, the family started the fund as a way to celebrate Megan’s life and keep her name and memory alive.
“When Megan passed away we asked people not to give flowers but donate to a memorial fund,” Jerry Hurckes said.
The Hurckeses have since raised over $40,000, which has gone to high school students continuing on to college, grammar school students going to high school, the Children’s Museum and Westside Baseball.
Megan Hurckes would have been 14 next Tuesday. She died after an ATV accident in 2009. Megan was a straight-A, fifth-grade student at Kolb Elementary School, a member of a champion girls softball team for Westside Baseball, and an actress in Oak Lawn Park District theater program.
The bowling benefit/birthday party kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at Arena Lanes, at 4700 W. 103rd St. (103rd Street and Cicero Avenue).
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the doors. Lane sponsorships are also available for $150 for a team of eight bowlers, or just come and watch. The evening features bowling, food, a cash bar and loads of raffles and chances to win some great prizes. All proceeds benefit the Megan Hurckes Scholarship Fund.
The Hurckeses also plan to unveil the Megan's Maze, an exhibit that will be permanently installed at the Children's Museum in Oak Lawn.
Those who can’t make the party but wish to make a donation can send checks payable to the Megan Hurckes Scholarship Foundation, c/o 7036 W. 96th St., Oak Lawn, IL, 60453.
For more information about Megan's candlelight bowling birthday party and benefit, call 708-599-7302.
