ST. PAUL, Minn. — If there’s one thing Minnesotans like, it’s their hockey. (Well, and their lutefisk if they are Norwegian Lutherans, but this is a piece about hockey).
In a gesture of appreciation to, and for, the puck-crazed fans of the Great White North, the Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy Center recently announced the completion of a very successful “10 Acts of Thanks” initiative, a program that covered one “Act of Thanks” per month since last Oct., when the initiative was first announced.
These acts encompassed such endeavors as a hockey equipment drive, which brought in more than 2,000 pieces of gear, to an ice cream special that benefited the Boys & Girls Club of St. Paul – the physical location of the Xcel Energy Center.
The 10 Acts of Thanks, in chronological order, were:
October: Hockey Equipment Drive
November: Movember, encouraging men to grow a “Mo”stache to raise awareness for cancer in men. The Wild raised $28,270 in support of cancer research, and they also broke the Guinness record for largest gathering of people with mustaches, when 1,131 men gathered on the ice following a game with Nashville.
December: 71 employees rang Salvation Army bells in St. Paul for a total of 48 hours.
January: A Red Cross Blood Drive brought in 53 donors.
February: Hockey Day Minnesota Food Drive collected more than 1,000 pounds of food and $2,700 (equal to nearly 10,000 meals), benefitting the Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo/Moorhead and Second Harvest Heartland in Maplewood.
March: Loose change donations at the arena were donated to the Minnesota State High School League Foundation.
May: 25 volunteers diverted more than 200 pounds of trash from their local waste stream (event scheduled for April, moved because of inclement weather).
May: Collected 75 pounds of pop tabs donated to the Ronald McDonald House.
June: Ice cream social.
July: The Cookie Cart made an appearance in downtown St. Paul, and all proceeds raised benefited the Cookie Cart organization. The Cookie Cart sprung from an initiative of a local nun to keep at-risk kids off the North Minneapolis streets. She would teach them how to bake cookies then sell them via pushcart. In the more than 15 years since its inception, the Cookie Cart has evolved into a full-scale job-training program.
Even though the program technically ended with July’s event, the Wild are continuing to give back, as they held another blood drive in early August and will continue to be a voice for positive growth and change in their community in the months to come.
The Good in Sports is appreciative of the Wild going the extra mile with a long-term endeavor to better their community, rather than just a one-shot event, and happily we bestow a Gold Star on the entire franchise.
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Copyright © 2011 The Good in Sports, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Wild organization does so many great things for the community. I hope the Wild better than they were last year. 🙂
Posted by Wild Tickets | August 26, 2011, 12:51 amThe Cookie Cart made an appearance in downtown St. Paul, and all proceeds raised benefited the Cookie Cart organization. The Cookie Cart sprung from an initiative of a local nun to keep at-risk kids off the North Minneapolis streets. She would teach them how to bake cookies then sell them via pushcart. In the more than 15 years since its inception, the Cookie Cart has evolved into a full-scale job-training program.
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