For the past 20 years I’ve organized and hosted Beer Church Turkey Bowl, a fundraiser and food drive. Most of those years, with my wife Kim by my side. Over the years we’ve supported several different charities with our efforts. Most often, we’ve we’ve worked to benefit West Seattle Food Bank. For our 20th Anniversary, the event grossed $12,600, by far the largest total we’ve ever earned at Turkey Bowl. We also collected more than 1,000 pounds of food.
The event sees us take over all 32 lanes at West Seattle Bowl. Along with 250 bowlers, many people attend Turkey Bowl just to enjoy the party and participate in the our auction and raffle. Along with members of the general public, many of our local breweries and bars send teams. In fact, more than half of the lanes are occupied by industry folks. The event also serves as the annual release of Beer Church IPA, a beer that benefits the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. Read about that project here.
There’s a trophy involved and in 2018 Airways Brewing won top honors as our Battle of the Brewers champion (pictured at top of post). We use a modified, reverse Callaway, Australian rules, synchronized scoring system to determine the winner (proprietary formula, we actually do math).
Beer Church Turkey Bowl is scheduled for the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We don’t foresee changing that date. Sadly, we are basically sold out every year before we announce the event publicly. We offer lanes to returning customers, and they rarely refuse. But there’s always hope and its a very fun event even if you don’t get to bowl, so follow Beer Church on Facebook to stay informed.
Huge thanks to all of our volunteers who help us run the event and to everyone who donates to the cause.
The 20th anniversary beer is mighty tasty! Flying off the shelf at Chuck’s in Greenwood. Gotta get more!