WATCH: Rolling to elevate more than just a score

At the Kelowna Lawn Bowling Club, people gathered to bowl and support a worthy cause.

After a two-year hiatus, Elevation Outdoors brought back its On The Lawn charity event.

“It’s amazing. On The Lawn, over time, became the largest fundraising event for Elevation Outdoors,” executive director Mike Greer told Kelowna10. “It’s really nice to be back out here and have everybody out. The event sold out really quickly, which let us know that everybody else was just as excited to get back out on the lawn as we were.”

The charity event is now in its sixth year, having raised over $100,000 for Elevation Outdoors, a non-profit organization that has been in Kelowna since 2007. It put on programs for at-risk youth in the Okanagan, giving them the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities they may not normally get the chance to participate in.

“I get to go out and see the impact of our programs firsthand,” Greer said. “I get to see directly where this money goes, and how many lives it has the ability to change.”

The event was started by a pair of women in the community who were inspired by another similar event elsewhere. The women decided to approach Elevation Outdoors to create an event like it. And after just one year, Greer said everyone was hooked.

“Lawn bowling is like a hybrid of bocce and curling,” Greer explained. “I think it’s a lot of fun because you don’t have to be an expert. The learning curve isn’t very steep. It’s really inclusive.”

It was Jude Brunt’s first time taking part in lawn bowling, though she is no stranger to knocking down pins.

“I am part of the Bedrock Bowlers and we ten pin bowl, so we hope those skills will translate to this,” Brunt remarked. “What I enjoy is just being out on a Thursday night in the Okanagan sunshine, in our great city and doing something fun like this for a really good cause.”

The lawn bowling antics continue over the next four weeks, as 40 teams battle it out, in two separate brackets.

Proceeds from this year’s event will assist Elevation Outdoors in providing over 85 scholarships to deserving participants of its programming.