USA Cares launches second bowl-a-thon with luncheon

USA Cares kicked off its second Stars and Strikes Bowl-a-thon fundraiser Thursday with a luncheon to encourage community participation.

Jill Pickett

Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War veteran and national spokesman for USA Cares, speaks during the USA Cares Stars and Strikes Bowl-a-thon kick-off luncheon Thursday at Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown.

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Jill Pickett

Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War veteran and national spokesman for USA Cares, doubles over laughing as he speaks during the USA Cares Stars and Strikes Bowl-a-thon kick-off luncheon Thursday at Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown.

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Jill Pickett

Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War veteran and national spokesman for USA Cares, recounts a story Thursday of how he and a fellow amputee during their time at Walter Reed drove a car by Anderson steering and the other man operating the brake and gas pedals by hand, as he speaks at the USA Cares Stars and Strikes Bowl-a-thon kick-off luncheon at Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown.

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The Radcliff-based nonprofit provides support to post-9/11 military personnel and their families throughout the United States. However, Special Events Coordinator Barbara Lally said all money raised in the bowl-a-thon will provide assistance to Kentucky families.

Nearly 200 people attended the luncheon, which featured guest speaker Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War veteran and national spokesman for USA Cares.

During Anderson’s second Iraq tour in 2005, he lost both legs and his left arm because of an improvised explosive device.

When he woke up in a hospital seven days later, Anderson, 31, said he looked at his body and wondered what he would be able to do as a triple amputee.

“When I came home, Chicago embraced me,” he said.

Through the help of others, Anderson said he restored his life. He found a minivan with a wheelchair ramp and modified his parents’ home for handicap accessibility.

When he became a USA Cares spokesman in 2007, Anderson said he was looking for an organization that would assist all members of the military in recovery.

“I wanted to be able to give back,” Anderson said. “I wanted to help soldiers.”

Asked about the difficulty of returning after serving overseas, he said it’s different for everyone.

“It’s a struggle,” Anderson said. “You don’t know what you’re going to do or how you’re going to make money.”

The bowl-a-thon begins Feb. 22 with a midnight bowl and continues on weekends though March 10. Participants pay $50 and form a team of four to five, Lally said.

The organization’s goal is for 408 teams to bowl, which would raise enough money to help 500-1,000 Kentucky families, Lally said.

Sarah Bennett can be reached at (270) 505-1750 or sbennett@thenesenterprise.com.