Paint the Rink tops $26K; Donation puts Bruins over $150,000 donation total
Published 10:09 am Wednesday, February 18, 2015
The Austin Bruins Tuesday presented a check for $26,122 to The Hormel Institute. The money was raised during the team’s annual Paint the Rink Pink game and jersey auction. Photo provided
The Austin Bruins has now raised more than $150,000 over the past five years for the Hormel Institute.
Austin Bruins owners Craig Patrick and Mike Cooper Tuesday presented a $26,122 donation to Dr. Zigang Dong, executive director of the Institute, from funds raised during the team’s fifth annual “Paint the Rink Pink” game on Feb. 7. The game — the fifth-consecutive “Paint the Rink Pink” sellout of more than 2,000 fans at Riverside Arena — put the Bruins’ overall fundraising total at more than $150,000 for the past five years.
“It’s amazing to me that five years ago what is now ‘Paint the Town Pink’ started in a meeting room at the Hormel Institute, where ‘Paint the Rink Pink’ was born,” Patrick said. “The level of support for these events by the people of Austin and the surrounding communities is truly inspiring.”
Started in 2011, the Austin Bruins’ Paint the Rink Pink hockey game, featuring pink ice and special hockey jerseys auctioned after the game, experienced great success from the start, leading to a community-wide Paint the Town Pink effort launched in 2012 for The Hormel Institute’s cancer research that has spread in recent years to communities, such as Blooming Prairie, Brownsdale. Rose Creek and Adams.
“All of us are very grateful for the Austin Bruins organization that launched this wonderful and inspirational initiative that helps expand awareness and support for The Hormel Institute’s cancer research,” said Dong, who addressed the crowd during the first intermission of this year’s game.
Donations still are coming in for this year’s PTTP initiative, which still has an array of events happening this weekend through March 8 in Rose Creek, Blooming Prairie and Brownsdale. PTTP officials, however, are confident this year’s efforts will put “Paint the Town Pink” over its goal of topping $500,000 overall for five years.
Businesses, organizations and individuals who have PTTP donations yet to submit can stop by The Hormel Institute’s main lobby from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. this Wednesday, Feb. 18, and next Wednesday, Feb. 25, for a gift presentation and thank you-photo with PTTP Director Kathi Finley.
