University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Women's Hockey Toy Drive
12/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
The Golden Gopher women's hockey team has been spreading holiday cheer during the month of December. Periodically from Dec. 5-19, the team invited 10 youth groups to come and celebrate the holiday season as well as giving back to their community.
Starting on Dec. 5, the Gophers met a youth team at a local Target. Each student-athlete was assigned to two or three members of the youth team. They went around Target, picked out a toy and purchased it to go towards the Toys for Tots drive. Following the Target run, the Gophers and youth teams headed back to Ridder Arena to enjoy a pizza party in the Gopher locker room. A scavenger hunt around Ridder Arena was also in full effect as the youth teams played for prizes and looked for clues around the arena.
The festivities ended on Dec. 19th, the last day of the Twin Cities Toys for Tots local donation drop-off. All participating teams interacted with some of their favorite Gopher players as all of the proceeds went towards the toy drive. Coordinated by Alyssa Grogan, both she and Anne Schleper dropped off all the toys on Dec. 19th at KARE 11. Both Grogan and Schleper opened it up to local youth teams in the area, which eight were happy to sign up and give back to Toys for Tots.
Each day, the event lasted about two and a half hours between the Target run and the pizza party. Participating teams were: Rosemount-Eastview Under 10, White Bear Lake U10A, Highland Central U12A, Stillwater U8, Andover U10B, Andover U12B, St Francis U8 and St Paul Johnson Como U12B.
