Visit our KraftHockeyville.com page by visiting: https://www.krafthockeyville.com/#/community/11E9F686BBB2882881807B23EA662A63.
After registering, click “Add My Story” and answer the following questions. Each answer must be fewer than 1000 characters and more than 150.
Question 1: Tell us about your community’s spirit as well as its passion for hockey. Can you describe examples of how this came to life?
- Consider:
-
- How did you get involved in hockey?
- Did you receive a free ticket for a Rhino or UTEP game and get hooked on the excitement of hockey?
- Did the Rhinos visit your child’s school?
- Did your child try public skating, Try Hockey for Free, or Rhino Rookies and fall in love with the game?
- Did your child attend a UTEP Science on Ice game or a field trip and decide he or she wanted to play hockey?
- Did you move to El Paso looking for a hockey program and find that our rink was the only rink for hundreds of miles?
- Were you surprised to find that El Paso had a rink and a hockey association?
Question 2: Tell us about your rink. Why is it important to your community and how would the $150,000 be best used to upgrade the rink?
- Consider the Rink’s impact on the community:
- Sports is a platform for children to learn the value of teamwork, discipline, and work ethic while staying healthy and having fun. By maintaining hockey in El Paso, we have given children another opportunity to learn these values in a sport that’s not common in the region. The rink also gives many people the chance to experience skating for the first time.
- The rink offers free field trips for schools, Try Hockey for Free events, and a free learn to play programs (like Rhino Rookies), low cost learn to play programs, and hockey programs geared toward military families.
- Between youth hockey, adult hockey, and figure skating the rink is incredibly busy. In addition to our regularly scheduled hockey and skating programs, El Pasoans frequently visit the rink for public skating, especially during the holidays. El Paso’s blind ice hockey program and the Special Olympics figure skating club also frequent the rink. On a typical weekend, the ice is in use from six in the morning to ten at night.
- Since 2010, the Rhinos, Miners, and many youth hockey players have shaved their heads for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to raise money for childhood cancer research.
- Consider the Rhinos’ impact on the community:
- The Rhinos offering free tickets to active duty, veterans, and their dependents. They also offer free tickets to Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders.
- The Rhinos’ community service initiatives including the Skate Mates Education program where they regularly visit local schools. Players have visited hospitals, crisis centers, and other non-profit events and even rang bells to collect money for the Salvation Army. The organization hosts in-game fundraisers or collections, like jersey auctions and Teddy Bear Toss, that benefit organizations like children’s hospitals, crisis centers, the Autism Society of El Paso, or the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation. The Rhinos have been partners with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for more than five years. Rhino players also volunteer to coach youth hockey programs at our rink.
- It’s evident that the roof needs repair to avoid leaks and insulation improvements are needed to maintain the ice.
Question 3: Why should your community be the next Kraft Hockeyville™ USA 2020?
- Can you describe how our rink is like home to our hockey family?
- Can you describe the diversity of individuals who visit the rink? Consider native El Pasoans, military families and/or families from Mexico, Canada, and/or Europe.
- Describe how hockey has made a difference in your family’s lives. What does hockey mean to you and your family as a participant in youth hockey, adult hockey, figure skating, or just a fan of Rhino and UTEP hockey.
- Can you describe how hockey has grown in El Paso since your first time at the rink?
