When Josiah Casler was 6 or 7 years old, his grandfather moved to Willow Valley Communities, and the pair began bowling together on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fast forward 10 years, and Casler has been a member of the Conestoga Valley High School (CVHS) bowling team for two years.

As a sophomore, he takes gifted education teacher Brian Schlee's SAGE class, which includes a passion project - an independent project in an area where the student has great interest. "SAGE is a class in our high school that promotes critical thinking skills, creativity, and advanced topics not featured in other high school classes," said Schlee. "The course places a lot of emphasis on student choice within assignment parameters, hence where the (name) passion project ... arises from."

According to Schlee, one of the requirements of the project is that the student must in some way give back to the community. "I was thinking about my passions," said Casler. "I came up with bowling and helping my community." Seeking to combine his two interests, Casler created a bowling fundraiser aimed at raising money for Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services (CVCCS). "They work right in our community," said Casler, who noted that CVCCS offers food and clothing banks, along with mentorship and after-school programs.

Casler called his fundraiser "Help our CV Neighbors - Josiah's Bowling Fundraiser," and he set a date of March 10 to bowl three games at Dutch Lanes near Brownstown. "We set up a Google form that allowed donors to donate a certain amount of money per strike or spare or just insert a set amount," said Casler.

At 4:30 p.m. on March 10, a few of Casler's fellow bowling team members and friends and family members gathered with him at the bowling alley. "It was livestreamed on Facebook, so that donors could watch it live," said Casler. When the time came to hit the alley, Casler's bowling skills paid off. "It went really well," he noted. "I threw 36 frames over three games, and I struck 27 times and got five spares." Casler informed sponsors of the results of the games and offered three ways for them to satisfy pledges. Donors could donate by mailing a check to his family, using an online payment method, or giving directly to CVCCS. Casler's actions resulted in $3,441 in pledges, of which more than $2,700 has been received by CVCCS.

Schlee was pleased with the results of Casler's project. "I was pleasantly surprised when he raised almost $4,000 for CVCCS," he said. "It is always great to see the students really take ownership of a project like Josiah did."

Jon Barrett, executive director of CVCCS, was happy to receive the funds for the work of the organization. "I was so impressed by Josiah's spirit," recalled Barrett. "He told me his goal was to raise $300 total at the beginning, but donation pledges kept coming in, and he realized this was getting bigger than he ever imagined."

"We had a spreadsheet where we estimated how much I would get, but we exceeded that because I bowled very well," noted Casler, who has since talked to his friend Evan Zimmerman about expanding the fundraiser. "We were thinking next year of trying to get the entire bowling team (to take part), and the year after that, the whole league," said Casler. "We would like to keep on building from this platform."

"We're so excited about the possibilities," said Barrett. "We couldn't continue to do what we do without faithful community partners like Josiah."