Number of Participants: 42
Hours Donated: 115
Value of Time Served: $40,814
Event Amount Raised: $10,180
Event Type: Advocacy & Human Rights
Sport: Alpine Skiing
Date: January 19, 2024
Location:
Byram Hills Central School District
NY, USA
About:
“The Pink the Rink Game is an annual tradition for the Byram Hills Hockey Program focused on raising money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. It is one of the biggest events for all district sports, we draw our biggest crowd and the whole community is involved. This is my first year as Head Coach of the Varsity program and to witness the effort and care placed into this event has been an experience I will never forget. In addition to grabbing the win last night in a competitive 4-3 game and continuing our undefeated streak to 10-0, it was a massive success for our fundraising team as we reached a total of $10,179.78 in total donations. It was a great night and I couldn’t be more proud of the team, families, and Athletic Department for the effort they put in over the last few weeks.
Pink the Rink is emblematic of the culture of Byram Hills and their focus on using sports as a platform for student-athletes to grow as people. As the event progresses year to year it is clear that it is ingrained in the fabric of the school and a dream for our younger hockey players to one day take part in. The athletes are truly the bedrock of Pink the Rink, as with all high school sports the turnover every few years brings a completely new roster, but the culture of Pink the Rink remains consistent and focused on improving year to year. Our fundraising efforts are highlighted by the athletes’ involvement as they run bake sales, create and sell merchandise, develop marketing with social and physical media, designing jerseys, and most importantly get their wonderful families involved in the event on a volunteer basis. The energy the athletes bring is unmatched, and their excitement is contagious. It is important for them to play in a massive game in front of their friends and family, they are making memories that will last a lifetime, but they understand the reason behind the Pink the Rink game. On the top right of their jersey is their “I Play For” heart, where they write in the name of a loved one who has fought or is fighting a battle with cancer. You can see it in their faces as they look at their jerseys, each one of them has someone they are thinking about that night. It is those periods of self-reflection that mean the most, the individual having their loved one on their jersey and playing for them but all of them united as one team to play for something bigger than themselves. For the weeks leading up to the event they are putting in the extra work during their lunch periods to sell baked goods, working on their laptops to design hoodies before practice, putting flyers up at the school and our managers designing Instagram posts during free periods, all to lead up to the moment they put on the jersey and get onto the ice. To reflect on what this means for them as not just hockey players but as growing adults, it makes everything we do as a staff worth it. No matter how our season ends we can deem it a success because of Pink the Rink and what it does for our student-athletes.” — Coach Patrick Busche
They have a team consisting of 22 players, and around 20 members from the Modified team graciously assisted in the cleanup after the event. Their work on the event commenced on January 4th and concluded on January 19th, excluding preplanning.
During the bake sales, there were a total of 7 players per lunch period, each lasting one hour, and they organized four bake sales, totaling 28 hours. Additionally, they allocated roughly 50 hours to baking, approximately 25 hours to merchandise sales, with players actively participating at the tables, and an estimated 10 hours for overall design and production.
In total, it is estimated that there was a collective involvement of approximately 100-115 hours from the athletes. Their approach has consistently been one of collaboration, with players lending their assistance whenever possible.