The Eagles’ Community Service Projects
Community service is an important part of
the Eagles youth hockey
experience.
Our community service projects began
five years ago, when the Eagles high school players voted to hold a benefit game
for the
Two weeks later, Eagles high school
players spent an afternoon at the hospital, visiting the young patients and
distributing the toys. The patients liked the players so much that a few
attended Eagles games with their parents after their release from the hospital.
Interviewed on television a few nights before last December’s Children’s
Hospital Game, Eagles high school co-captain Melissa McGhee spoke for the
team: “Hockey lets us put smiles on kids’ faces, and that makes playing
special.”
The Children’s Hospital Game has become a local tradition. At last December’s
game, the Eagles received more than 400 stuffed animals, so many that the
hospital’s physicians brought boxes of the toys with them when they traveled
overseas to provide surgery and other medical care for children in
underdeveloped countries. The Eagles have spread their generosity worldwide!
The Eagles teams have also done several other community service projects,
including these:
•
A “Salute to America” game, which raised more than $1000 for victims of the
September 11 terrorist attacks and featured a center-ice ceremony conducted by
the color guard of the Missouri National Guard.
•
“Anti-Drug Awareness” games, which provided free bumper stickers to all fans
under sixteen.
•
A Children’s Book Drive, which collected more than 1400 books for children
served by six local County Health Department clinics.
•
A fundraising game for children suffering from last December's devastating
tsunamis in Asia. The donations went to the U.S. Fund For UNICEF, which
provided lifesaving care to child survivors.
•
Participation in the annual Tom Henke Charity Auction for the Special Learning
Center, which treats children with cognitive and learning disabilities. Eagles
high school players were “auctioned off” to perform a morning of yard work and
other chores at the homes of successful bidders.
•
A preseason fundraising project for the Salvation Army’s efforts to assist
Hurricane Katrina victims.
For the past three years, the Missouri Senate and the Missouri House of
Representatives have passed unanimous Resolutions praising these projects and
the Eagles’ sportsmanship. Three years ago, the Eagles won the Kansas City High
School League’s first Leadership and Humanitarian Contribution Award for
community service projects that “benefitt[ed] the
community and the less fortunate.” The Eagles’ community projects also receive
regular newspaper, television and radio coverage that casts hockey in a
positive light.