Student Organizes 'Purple Bowling' for Anarae Schunk

A Burnsville High School student is using GoFundMe to organize a fundraiser to raise awareness of domestic violence in memory of Anarae Schunk. Schunk was found dead at the end of September after she was last seen on video surveillance with an ex-boyfriend later charged with murder in another incident.

To Burnsville High School junior Miya Wawracz-Harms, Schunk was her friend and math tutor.

The fundraiser, Wawracz-Harms explained, is part of a project in her social studies class where students can complete a project of their choice. Students received the assignment at the beginning of the school year and Wawracz-Harms had already considered organizing a fundraiser. However, it wasn’t until after a brainstorming session with her mother that she decided to do a fundraiser in honor of her friend.

Wawracz-Harms has the details of the fundraiser, which she has called “Purple Bowling,” on GoFundMe. The event includes two hours of unlimited bowling at Cedarvale Lanes in Eagan from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22.

Tickets are required to bowl. Receive a ticket to bowl with a minimum donation of $10 through GoFundMe and a note requesting tickets. Individuals can donate without choosing to bowl. Currently there are 105 spots left, according to Wawracz-Harms's latest message on her GoFundMe project page.

All proceeds from the fundraiser—after costs—will benefit Cornerstone, an organization that has as its mission the prevention of domestic violence and abuse and the end of the generational cycle of abuse. Bowlers can wear purple in support of domestic violence awareness.

Wawracz-Harms and her mentor for the project, Steve Matula, decided together to donate the funds to Cornerstone. Steve Matula’s sister, Mandy Matula, was missing for months before she was found dead in Stearns County in October. Her ex-boyfriend, who is the only suspect in her death, shot himself at the time she went missing.

“It’s difficult to take on a whole project,” Wawracz-Harms said, but she said that she has also enjoyed making her own decisions throughout the project.

“It’s gotten bigger than I would have thought,” Wawracz-Harms said about her fundraiser. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

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