by Charles Kral, PAW Writer
On December 12th, the Providence Academy boy’s varsity hockey team hosted “Skate with the Lions,” s a charity event where anyone can come to the Plymouth Ice Center and skate with the team for free. The team is doing this to support the Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners Food Shelf. This will be the ninth year in a row that the hockey team has hosted this fundraiser.
“Skate with the Lions is a great way to get out and have fun skating and supporting those in need of food this winter,” said the boy’s Varsity captain Tyler Tessman ’16, “We hope that everyone has a wonderful experience and that the younger kids have a blast skating with everyone on the boy’s hockey team.”
This year the food brought to the fundraiser will go to the IOCP Food Shelf. The IOCP, or Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners, is a charity organization that has helped struggling families in five suburbs within Hennepin County, since 1979. They provide; housing, food and clothing, employment, child care, and access to resources and connections within one’s community. Last year, they gave over 700,000 pounds of food to over 4,000 individuals. Those who attended this year’s Skate with the Lions were encouraged to bring canned and non-perishable foods to donate to the IOCP Food Shelf.
The event itself is a fun time to get and skate with the team even if you haven’t skated in a while or if you have never skated a day in your life. It’s a great way for younger kids to meet and get to know the team and have fun and enjoy some holiday treats, all in the name of a great cause.
Skate with the Lions impacts those who receive the food and other donations that are given to the IOCP, but it also impacts those who attend it as well as the people who help organize it and set it up.
“Anyone can come out,” said Tessman, “even if they have never skated before people still come out for such a good cause. It is really a neat experience. The past couple of years Skate with the Lions has been a great success and it is only getting better.”
Skate with the Lions helps provide those who do not have much and gives them a reason to be thankful this Christmas season.
For more information on the IOCP, you can go to; http://iocp.org/about
And for more information on the food shelf and other ways to donate you can go to; http://www.iocp.org/programs/food-shelf