Thank You, IGBO Leagues! You Made a Difference!
The 2025 Food Donation Drive was a tremendous success thanks to the generosity of IGBO leagues everywhere. From coast to coast, bowlers rallied together to support food banks and pantries in their local communities—donating goods, raising funds, and sharing incredible stories of kindness.
Scroll below to see how each league contributed to this year’s effort. We are grateful for every act of giving.
Below are the Leagues Starting with N through W.
NCBA Friday
Benefiting: Cleveland Food Bank
This league provided 145 lbs of food and $80 in donations!
North Jersey Gay Lesbian Bowlers (NJGLB)
Benefiting: Buddies of New Jersey Inc.
Our NJGLB League is always supportive of the Buddies of New Jersey organization which provides support and services to those living with HIV and AIDS. We have NJGLB Family who are members of the Buddies Family. Our NJGLB Family generously donated Thanksgiving meal donations.
PBNJ
Benefiting: Rockaway Food Closet
We picked Rockaway Food Closet because it is located close to our Bowling house. It’s a Presbyterian Church that runs the Food Closet.
PDX Pride
Benefiting: Oregon Food Bank
PDX Pride’s member Michael Kennedy spearheaded our food drive supporting Oregon Food Bank. He and our league raised over 1,079 pounds of food and $177 for the needy. Thank you all.
Pride 2025-2026
Benefiting: Alameda Food Bank
This is our first year with IGBO and the food drive. Unfortunately, we missed the 1st week, people forgot the 2nd week and the 3rd week was Thanksgiving. We are extending our drive till Christmas.
The Alameda Food Bank has been around for over 45 years providing food assistance to the Alameda community.
Pride League Seattle
Benefiting: West Seattle Food Bank
Our Thursday and Sunday leagues have long been supporters of the West Seattle Food Bank! They are instrumental in helping to service folks who have food insecurity.
Pride of Alexandria
Benefiting: ALIVE!
Pride of Alexandria collected 270 pounds of food for ALIVE.
Rainbow
Benefiting: Blessed Hope
The league collected food donations for Blessed Hope which is a very accepting of people place.
Rainbow Rollers
Benefiting: Cherry Hill Food Pantry
We have run our food drive for over 15 years and have been donating to the Cherry Hill Food Pantry for the last 7 years. It is nice to see our bowlers participate in helping others around the holidays.
Rainbowl NJ
Benefiting: Toni's Kitchen/St. Luke's Episcopal Church
We were able to collect two boxes full of food to donate to a local food pantry. It will stock their pantry for a few days this holiday season.
Rainbowlers League
Benefiting: West Seattle Food Bank
The Rainbowlers league collected food and cash donations on Several Thursday night league nights. We combined our donations with the Seattle Pride League. During the Espresso Cup, the committee donates to the West Seattle Food Bank!
Rocheter Historical Bowling Society
Benefiting: Cameron Street Ministry
We dropped off 12 bags of canned and dried goods at the Ministry. People were outside pouring through the fresh vegetables to prepare for their Thanksgiving meals. They were all very appreciative of the donation.
Rocket City G-BLASTers Bowling league
Benefiting: The Pantry at Shenanigans
We collected 150lbs of food, laundry pods, microwaveable food items. The Pantry at Shenanigans was created by passionate volunteers and driven by community need. They serve a mixed of community, cater to the autistic/aspergers community as well as the LGBTQ community. Their generosity reflects the league’s heartfelt dedication to uplifting their community.
SGBL
Benefiting: Community Interfaith of Central Montgomery County
We hope our donations will go to help many needy people.
Our mission is to help end food insufficiency in Norristown while enabling our clients to become self sufficient. We provide
Guidance in navigating the system and finding resources that they need. Their generosity reflects the league’s heartfelt dedication to uplifting their community.
STORM OLBA Fall 2025-26
Benefiting: Resource Center-Nelson-Tebedo
I would like to thank all the bowlers who participated in the STORM OLBA Fall League and generously donated goods to support The Resource Center Nelson-Tebedo Dallas Food Pantry.
The Resource Center primarily serves individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas, providing free food and meals in a “grocery store” style shopping experience for eligible clients. Services are also available to community members, including students and guardians through other programs like the Resource Center West. The Resource Center is partnered with the North Texas Food Bank and operates on client income at or below 400% of federal poverty guidelines.
Steel City
Benefiting: Hugh Lane Wellness
Steel City supported Hugh Lane Wellness with donations for this year’s drive.
Stonewall Bowling Pittsburgh
Benefiting: Hugh Lane Wellness
Hugh Lane has been a partner of the LGBTQ+ community for years and with everything going on are opening their food pantry to more people than ever. Our bowling league was able to come together to donate many items to assist in refilling Hugh Lane’s stockpile of items that have been decimated recently.
Summit Bowling Association
Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
We have not yet held our drive. We host an annual Food Drive each January. I got permission from the organizers to keep our drive in January, as we already had a Winter Clothing Drive planned in November.
Syracuse Mixed Pride
Benefiting: Food Bank of Central New York
Syracuse Mixed Pride members donated 134 pounds of food and $900 to the Food Bank of Central New York, our largest provider of meals for food pantries that serve tens of thousands of area residents. Combined with IGBO’s additional $100, we are donating $1,000 to this charity who told me that our food and monetary donations will provide more than 3,000 meals! Thank you IGBO for spearheading this wonderful food drive and donating to charities for all our participating leagues!
TC Pride Bowlers
Benefiting: Aliveness Project
Our league raised $120 in donations and submitted the donation on “Give to the Max” day where another organization matched our donation.
TSABA
Benefiting: Mercy Neighborhood Ministries
TSABA supported Mercy Neighborhood Ministries with donations for this year’s drive.
Thursday Earlybirds
Benefiting: The Poverello Center, Inc.
We will be doing the Food Drive on December 11th for Poverello whose vision is to ensure that everyone in our community experiences the full health benefits of high quality, nutritious food, regular exercise, and accessible healthcare.
Thursday Night 3 Ways
Benefiting: Queer Center
The Food Bank that the league will be donating to is for The Thrive Collective program, which is part of the Queer Center. They are a mobile food pantry, where they deliver non-perishable food items to the LGBTQIA+ community and allies for those who are living with HIV/AIDS. The league has set a goal of over 200lbs of food for this organization and we are looking to extend the food drive close to the Christmas time, so we can help for those in need during this holiday season.
Tuesday Nighters
Benefiting: The Poverello Center, Inc.
We will be doing the Food Drive on December 9th for Poverello whose vision is to ensure that everyone in our community experiences the full health benefits of high quality, nutritious food, regular exercise, and accessible healthcare.
Tuesday Twister
Benefiting: Other Options Inc
The Friends Food Pantry is open to Oklahomans living with HIV or AIDS and their families who are living far below the poverty level and income standards, as well as disabled individuals impacted by HIV or AIDS. The pantry allows our friends to shop for free food and live nutritionally healthy and independent lives. The Friends Food Pantry serves over 2,000 households each month—most of whom shop on a weekly basis. On behalf of Tuesday Twisters, Terry Payton, league Vice-President and Homer Cobb, league IGBO Representative, delivered 3 grocery cart loads of food to Other Options Friends Food Pantry.
We Are Everywhere
Benefiting: Committee for Helping Other (CHO)
The Committee for Helping Others (CHO) is a volunteer-driven organization founded in 1969 by local churches and concerned citizens in the Vienna, Oakton, Dunn Loring, and Merrifield communities. Its mission is to provide compassionate support to individuals and families in need—offering goods and services that may not be accessible through government programs.
CHO’s services include assistance with financial hardship, food, clothing, furniture, transportation, and special support during the Christmas holidays. Importantly, CHO has no paid staff; every effort is carried out by dedicated volunteers.
Requests for assistance come from a wide range of sources, including Fairfax County Social Services, hotlines, churches, teachers, visiting nurses, medical and mental health professionals, and other community organizations and individuals. Each request is carefully reviewed to ensure validity, with the firm intent of helping those truly in need. CHO also upholds the dignity of every recipient, safeguarding their privacy and never disclosing identities.
Wednesday Rainbow Bowling League
Benefiting: The Aliveness Project
We collected nearly 100 pounds of food and over $600 cash.
Wednesday fun league
Benefiting: Mid-Ohio Food Collective
We collected cash (with an anonymous match up to $500) and food donations.
Windy City Pride
Benefiting: The Friendship Center
Windy City Pride bowling works together with our members to help support the needs of our community in both difficult times and good. This food drive was spear headed by Red Ulrich and her team the super69ers. Thanks also to IGBO for matching donations with their financial contributions.
