The purpose of the “Hockey for HEROES” is to do several things.

1.        To help our military members by donating, packing and shipping personal care items to them.

2.        Give our youth hockey players a great team building opportunity and community project at a very low              cost per family.

3.        And to show, we as US citizens, care about our men and women in harm’s way.

Overview

What a lot of people do not know is that our Military members must provide for all of their own personal care items, even while deployed.  They often rely on family and friends to provide for these needs especially if they are ‘forward  deployed’ at remote operating bases such as in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Service members holding the rank of E-4 or below (the equivalent of a corporal across all branches of the service), do not make a lot of money and if they are married and have kids, their pay is barely enough for the family to live on, much less send care packages to their loved ones overseas.

This is where, we as hockey families, step up and help out.

In the past, Winterland had a project to take old hockey socks and make them into stocking hats for the Homeless.

This time we get to take it a step further and have the kids actually pack the packages, send a written note and hopefully get a reply from one of our military folks.  

Each coach wants and needs a team building activity that brings his players together as a family.  This program will get those players to work together for not only the good of the team but for the good of our country.

How does a Youth Hockey Team help?

To help is very simple. 

1. Each team collects items on the “Need List”.
        a. Team Manager sends out list of needed items to families

        b. set up a certain day for collections

2. Each team member writes a short letter. Maybe includes photo in hockey uniform.

3. Manager makes arrangements with H.E.R.O.E.S. Care to go out to their Facility in Fenton to pack the care         packages.

    Email: Jon Jerome at H.E.R.O.E.S. Care  to set up the      packing date: jon.jerome@heroescare.org

4. Each team donates $25 for postage of the package.  Make checks payable to H.E.R.O.E.S. Care.  

How does a Youth Hockey Club help?

To help is very simple as a club. 

Clubs can offer the program as a club and set up collections boxes at each rink and just have members donate items which are then given to HEROES Care. And the Club could make a small donation to help pay shipping of some packages.

Or

The Club could promote the Team Building aspect and ask their teams to join in

Or

Better yet do both.  This way if a team does not wish to participate as a team building project their families could still participate and donate items at the rinks.

Organization from the Club:

Each club would have a HEROES Program Director(HPD) that would handle all aspects of the project and be the focal point for managers/coaches.

This volunteer would handle the following depending upon which direction the Club and/or teams take:

Team Building Program:

The HPD would organization an electronic files that would contain all the information needed by a family to collect items for the Care Packages:

                        1. Needs List

                        2. Need List Flyer

                        3. copy of the E-Care Post Card (Generic) but teams could

                            Develop their own type card or letter

                        4. Contact information for scheduling “packing day”

                        5. HPD would be available to discuss project at Team Meetings.

Club Level:

The HPD would organize:

            1.  an electronic file that would contain all the information needed by a         

                 family to collect items for the Care Packages:

                        a. Needs List

                        b. Need List Flyer

                        c. copy of the E-Care Post Card (Generic) as a sample

                        d. Information on where to drop off your donation of personal items

            2. Organize collection boxes for each rink – after getting approval

                 from rinks to place the collection box in the rink lobby area.

            3. Organize, when necessary, to have donated items either picked up

                 Or delivered to HEROES Care.   

            4. Have players/coaches write short post card/letter that can be included

                 in Care Packages.

            5.  Donate some t-shirts to be added to the Care Package.  A good way to clean out the Supply
                 Closest.