This holiday season, the Crookston Blue Line Club Youth Hockey program is teaming up to make a difference in our community with our “Score Big by Giving Back!” Food Donation Drive!
The Blue Line Club sponsors the drive, while Crookston Park and Rec, Brady Heppner, and Christin Hardy have helped get it going.
The idea of giving back came from a committee. “We’ve had a committee that has focused on recruitment over the last few years, and we really got to discussing this summer what that looks like. We’ve hosted the Try Hockey for Free event, and it has been so successful,” said Christin Hardy. “But then we started to look a little bit deeper into it about what recruitment really means, and just really agreed that it’s something that we want parents in the program and say man I want my kid to be a part of that and not that our hockey program isn’t doing that already. Still, we thought we could just take it a step further.“
The drive runs through December 20 and will support the Care and Share New Hope Food Shelf in Crookston. They are collecting non-perishable food items. The Care & Share shared that cereal and holiday-themed items are especially appreciated.
The goal is to have the kids give back to the community and develop into well-rounded individuals. “We’re trying to teach the kids how to be an anchor on their team. It really is focusing on the other side of sports. You know, the coaches are doing the X’s and O’s and they are still, they’re incorporating some of this stuff, but it’s kind of a way to streamline it and have expectations be consistent across the program,” said Hardy. “And we want our kids to go to a tournament or something and of course be successful off on the ice, but we want people to take notice and say, okay, something’s different the way they carry themselves off the ice as well, whether it be, you know, how they treat others, you know, their sportsmanship, those sorts of things.”
Hardy said giving back to the community is important since the community supports them. “We took it further and are starting to build, like giving back to the community. So that’s one of the components, being able to see beyond yourself,” said Hardy. “And we know that the community gives so much to hockey, and having the arena. And it’s just a way to say, okay, what can we do for others? So that’s kind of how it all started.”
All players—from Learn to Skate through Bantams—are encouraged to bring donations to practice. Even one canned item makes a difference. To keep the excitement going, they will be tracking the total donations on a poster at the rink. Donations can be dropped off on the second level of the arena by the vending machines (see picture below). “If you go to the arena, you’re going to see a large banner that says, Score Big By Giving Back. And it has Santa on it, and he’s playing hockey. And there are donation boxes. And we’re going to track as a program how much we collect from Learn to Skate all the way through Bantams,” said Hardy. “And the boys hockey team is going to be delivering them to the Care and Share around the 20th. So those items will be available to families who need them before the holiday and the break. Kids will be out of school and a lot of families depend on those school lunches. So hopefully there’ll be a way to supplement that need in the community.”