On Aug. 28, Koz’s Mini Bowl owner Justin Kosakoski was severly injured by a hit and run driver and although he is out of the hospital, he suffered two broken legs and has at least a few months ahead of him before he is likely to walk again.
With the passing in April of his mother Carol, with whom he co-owned the bar his parents bought in 1978, the pandemic hitting the tavern industry hard and now the medical bills from this, Kosakoski finds himself in some need. Luckily, he has friends.
Those friends have launched a GoFundMe to help.
“We are raising money for Justin and his family and the bar we love,” wrote organizer Chris Olson.
“Between Carol passing away and Covid closing the bar times have been tough for the Koz's family. We are raising money for the bills that are piling up, and to finish up the renovations so the bar can reopen. Thank you for your donation and we look forward to seeing you soon.”
At the time of this writing just over $4,000 of the $7,500 goal has been raised.
If you’d like to donate, please visit the link above.
“Justin would give anyone the shirt off of his back and we are trying to pay that forward by raising money for him,” says his friend Nickie Rouleau.
Get well soon, Justin!
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
