More than 60 people laced up their bowling shoes Saturday to help Youth First Texas Collin County score almost $400 more than expected for its fundraiser.
The group raised $1,379.84 during the event in Plano, after planning the event a few weeks before to raise $1,000, YFTCC member Kris Wong said.
Wong wanted to help fund a Crime Stoppers reward to help find the shooter who shot lesbian couple Mollie Olgin and Kristene Chapa in Portland, Texas, in June.
The event was the biggest fundraiser YFTCC has ever organized and the first event Wong has headed up, she said.
“I was pretty ecstatic about it,” she said, adding that she was thrilled with the community’s support.
Wong teamed up with Dallas activist Cd Kirven at the Dallas vigil for the couple. Kirven had expressed a desire to raise a reward and Wong said the event was already planned as a social, so it was turned into a fundraiser.
The teen couple’s attack resonated with Wong, who said she couldn’t imagine if one of her friends was shot or killed.
“It’s sad because they’re my age and they’re too young for, we’re too young for that, because we just started getting out into the world for it to end so quickly,” she said. “It kind of hits home.”
While Wong hopes the money helps catch the shooter as an incentive for those with information to come forward, if the money doesn’t get used, she said it will be donated to YFTCC for future events and causes.
