The Seattle Thunderbirds and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington & Alaska (RMHC) are pleased to announce that the 14th Annual Hockey Challenge, held Saturday, February 25, and Sunday, February 26, at ShoWare Center in Kent, raised more than $190,000 for RMHC.
The annual Hockey Challenge has now raised over $4.2 million for the RMHC in 14 years.
Hockey teams are formed by sponsors that raise money to play in the Challenge. All proceeds from the Challenge directly support operations of the Seattle Ronald McDonald House, which provides a “home-away-from-home” for children and their families receiving medical treatment at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital, making each day a little easier. In fact, last year the Seattle Ronald McDonald House provided accommodations for 700 families.
There were six games played during the Challenge on Saturday and four games played during the Challenge on Sunday. The first four games Saturday were played by eight teams from various groups at Microsoft. The T-Birds vs. Everett Silvertips game followed the four Challenge games on Saturday and the event was capped off by the Celebrity All-Star Game. The four games played on Sunday included a team from Amazon.com, a Microsoft team from Vancouver, Canada, the Tacoma Shamrocks, two women’s teams, a Greater Seattle Hockey League men’s team, and the T-Birds vs. Tri-City Americans game.
“We are thankful for the participation of all the teams and their fundraising efforts,” said Dianna Finnerty, Executive Director of RMHC. “The House is thrilled with the success of the event. It’s been a great 14-year partnership and we couldn’t ask for better partners than the T-Birds.”
“We owe a big thank you to all the teams that took part, all the volunteers that helped put the event on and all the T-Birds alumni and local celebrities that took part in the Celebrity All-Star game,” said Ian Henry, T-Birds Director of Public and Media Relations. “We are very pleased with the amount of money that was raised for the RMHC this past weekend.”
