Give Blood Play Hockey 2009

[zipyaj]

Hey Jay,

Congratulations on a job very well done! Keep up the great work.

Rich,
On behalf of a dedicated team of volunteers, I thank you! For three years now, this has been a group effort with each doing their respective parts and doing what they do best... some for team registrations, some for fundraising, some for raffles donations, some for getting food and beverages and others to help fill in the many gaps it takes to serve the needs of the tournament and for making it into an event. I am proud to be one of those volunteers.

I just arrived home following the last event of the evening; the Women's Gold Finals won by Team Revision. Checking my inbox, there were many compliments and positive comments from the community and areas beyond; the midwest, to the east coast who had good words about the event.

One of the women players in the finals wrote to me up her returning home, "This was one of the most fun tournaments I have been in, and for such a good cause!!! You all did such a great job! I love seeing the hockey community come together like that!"

This event is just that; helping the hockey community come together! And with the community's help, comes the ability to help others - overcoming differences in a game much larger than our own - life!

I am fortunate to some degree to be the face man in many ways because marketing is what I do - it's my contribution to this event and to our community. But mine is but one among many roles that it takes to make an event like this successful. Your compliment to me is one I share with so many others more worthy, and I thank you for all of them!

I am pleased to report that we this year's event was UP in registration in a typical down year; we recorded nearly 160 pints in donated blood, over 70 registrants into the bone marrow registry and are still couting the funds raised and donated to our charities. Further, organizers were approached over the course of the weekend by numerous sponsors who want to be On Board for next year and help further the good works begun.

Year #4 for this event is already on the drawing board.

BEST!

[zipyaj]

Great tourney, had fun....even if your raffles were rigged haha

Dear State Roller,
Thank you for the compliment for the tourney and I am pleased that you had fun.

I am reminded that "rigging raffles" is a matter of ticket bending, which we police, and box stuffing by those who can afford the tickets to get into the raffle box for any given prize in the first place. If you were there, you witnessed that drawing of the tickets was mostly by passers by and random children. Yes, we had one person with obvious deep pockets who may have done their Xmas shopping early and won many prizes, but they paid their way to get into the raffles through their ticket purchases. I am likewise reminded of a story you may find of interest...

A single mother showed up to the rink an hour or so after the raffle to claim her prize. Her son had been shopping in the pro shop earlier in the day and set his sights on a new stick he desperately wanted: Retail $180! Mom told her son that a new stick wasn't in the family budget, but she could afford $1 for a raffle ticket for the same stick in the raffle... she further said, "If it's meant to be that you win this stick then the Lord looks your way. If you don't, then someone else was meant to win."

When a tourney volunteer later called to inform her that her ticket had won the stick in the raffle, she turned back to drive 40 miles and returned rinkside in tears to collect the stick. To say that she turned our hearts inside out and her son would have his stick - something they could not otherwise afford - would be an understatement.

Raffles; sometimes a game of chance. Sometimes a game of fate.

Again, we are glad that you had fun. Maybe next year fortune will smile on you in winning one or more the almost hundred items on the raffle table like we had this year.

BEST

[State Roller]

good story, i hope you didn't think i was serious about the raffle stuff.

[zipyaj]

A thank you to all of you who continue to send kind words and ecouragement for this event and the charitable causes it supports.

To answer some of the inquiries about Winning Teams who will have their names inscribed onto the perennial Blood Cup, here's the list:

CLUB DIVISIONS:
8U: SD Stingrays
10U: 949 Anarchy
12U Gold: Raw Steel
12U Silver: Jr Ducks
14U: SD Stingrays
16U Gold: Revision Devil Dogs
16U Silver: SD Stingrays Red
18U Gold: LA
18U Silver: Fierce Panthers
Mens Elite: Mission Syndicate SE
Mens Gold: AJ's Team
Mens Silver: Tour Cup Snipers
Womens Gold: Team Revision
Womens Silver: Bad Betties

SCHOLASTIC DIVISIONS:
Middle School: Plaza Vista (for Casey)
High School JVA: Villa Park
High School JVB: Mater Dei
College: Orange Coast College


There have been many, many letters to the Give Blood Play Hockey organizers citing so many good memories that it has been challenging to keep up. On behalf of all those dedicated volunteers, WE THANK YOU!

[sampling of pics attached ]

BEST!