Christopher Nagle just wanted to do something to help his cousin. He wound up helping hundreds more.

Nagle, a 2002 Seneca Valley graduate, began the Bowling for Autism fundraiser that year at Freeway Lanes in Zelienople because his cousin, Nick Wildman, 10, has the disability. Nagle opted to put together this fundraiser as his senior project, and with the hope it could raise enough money to begin the Autism Society of Butler County (ASBC).

"At the time, I really liked bowling,"said Nagle, now 22 and employed as an electrician in Pittsburgh. "I used to bowl with friends at Freeway Lanes all the time. When I was in the co-op program at school and didn't have to work in the afternoon, I'd go over to the bowling alley and roll a few games.

"I knew about the need for a local autism organization. The goal of my project was to get one started."

Nagle's aunt and Nick's mother, Mary Wildman, is a teacher at Seneca Valley High School. Her husband, Dave Wildman, is president of the Autism Society of Butler County.

The first Bowling for Autism event raised $4,500 and succeeded in forming the local chapter of the Autism Society of America. Last year's event, the fourth annual, raised $10,000 for the organization.

"When the (bowling) event first started, we used maybe 12 lanes,"Mrs. Wildman said. "Now we use all 32 lanes and just pack the place. We had more than 200 participants last year."

This year's Bowling for Autism event is April 2 at Freeway Lanes. It runs from noon until 4:30 p.m. For a donation of $25 per person, $50 per family, or a contribution from raised donations elsewhere, participants receive free bowling, shoe rental, food and drink. The food and drink are donated by Strikers Sports Bar &Restaurant, which is connected to the bowling facility.

Mary Wildman said that a Seneca Valley senior has taken on this fundraiser every year since Nagle debuted it.

Amanda Smith took it over in 2003, followed by Kelly Schoeffel in 2004 and Ashley Bruno in 2005.

Jessica Jurysta and Tim Mickle are running the event as their senior project this year. Mickle, 19, has Spina Bifida and has undergone 59 surgeries in his lifetime.

A junior in high school, Mickle has been granted two years to complete his senior project and is bound to a wheelchair.

"His doctors won't allow him to leave the house now and he's been home-schooled lately,"his mother, Sharon Mickle, said. "Tim will be able to attend and participate in the event, though.

"He has bowled in it before and will probably bowl a game or so. He has to use the ramp, but one of the nice things about this event is those elements are made available for bowlers who need them."

Before he was homebound by doctors, Tim Mickle physically went to 40 area businesses to solicit donations for door prizes and the Chinese auction that are also part of the Bowling for Autism day.

Nick Wildman and Tim Mickle are cousins.

"This is a wonderful program, a true bonding of the community,"Mrs. Mickle said.

Mrs. Wildman said the ASBC's mailing list is 50 families "but there are so many more out there that we haven't reached yet."

Once considered a rare disorder, autism affects more than 4,000 families in Western Pennsylvania alone.

Nagle returns to the Bowling for Autism event every year to lend his services.

"It's pretty amazing that it's grown the way it has,"he said. "I hated the project when I started it. I mean, my senior class was one of the first to have to do a senior project and it was a lot of work.

"Hard work really does pay off. This event proves it."

Mrs. Wildman agreed.

"Our entire organization is volunteer,"she said. "We're a parental support group that tries to help families affected daily by autism.

"This is our big fundraiser. We couldn't exist without it."

Thank goodness for good people and the enjoyment of bowling.

"I tried to put the two together,"Nagle said.

Mission accomplished.