PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — While bowling alleys are slowly starting to reopen, one alley in Largo never really closed.
John Foss has been splashing pins at Liberty Lanes for the past five years. It’s like a home away from home for his family.
“Get that night out with the guys, you know have a couple beers and bowl and have a good time, and for my son he’s on the bowling team in high school, he bowls in a league, so for his friends they are all here,” said Foss.
When Liberty Lanes had to close due to the pandemic, Foss and many of the alley’s regulars decided to donate money to keep the kitchen open. Just because they couldn’t have a turkey on the lane, didn’t mean they couldn’t put one in the oven.
“So they weren’t getting full paychecks and they weren’t getting what they normally would, but they were getting something, and it gave us purpose during a time when we kind of felt like we weren’t essential anymore,” said Liberty Lanes owner, Alex Ross.
For the past two months, the Liberty Lanes staff has been cooking meals for first responders. They’ve made more than 40 different deliveries.
“We’re talking about giving to the frontline people who are keeping it safe for all of us, it was a no brainer for me, we had to do it,” said Foss.
“We’ve even had a lot of our league bowlers, when they came to get that prize money, donated that prize money to the cause so we could keep donating so we could keep making food, and it means a lot,” said Ross.
Foss said his bowling team might have had to take a break, but the Liberty Lanes bowling family kept on rolling.
“Giving back and volunteering and donating is kind of what this is all about, and it’s one big community that we play in, but this is the community that we live in too, so it's really important,” said Foss.
For more information, go to libertylanesbowling.com.
