The Crookston Pirates Boys Hockey team raised funds for the Crookston Community Christmas Food Basket Committee this year. The funds raised help families in need purchase groceries from Hugo’s Family Marketplace in Crookston.
Pirates Head Coach Josh Hardy decided to make things interesting this year and run one lap around the Crookston Sports Center’s event rink for every $20 his team could raise. “We do the Christmas food baskets every year. It’s a great experience for our kids to deliver these food baskets to families in need,” said Hardy. “Unfortunately, due to Covid, we haven’t been able to do that, so instead, we’ve raised money for gift cards that could be bought. This year I was thinking of different ways we could maybe raise more money, and I came up with this idea of running a lap around the Sports Center for every $20 that our team could raise.”
Hardy was anticipating doing somewhere between 40-50 laps; however, the generosity of some individuals and businesses ended up making Hardy run a few more laps this afternoon. “In my head, I thought that would be around 4-5 miles or so,” said Hardy. “Things started to spiral, and the money kept coming in, and I am now running 89 laps which is a little over eleven miles.”
The 89 laps equal almost $1,800 raised by the Pirates Boy’s Hockey team. That all goes towards the purchasing of gift cards for families in need. Hardy also noted it could have been even more running, as Crookston High School Activities Director Greg Garmen offered to give Hardy all the Crookston Boys Basketball team’s money. Hardy said he immediately needed to shut that down as he didn’t need to be at the Sports Center all night.
Hardy is more than happy to be running if it means more families will get the help they need this Christmas season. “Big thanks to everyone that donated. We had some great support from people,” said Hardy. “As usual, the community stepped up when people are in need, and if I can do my little part to help out, I’m more than happy too.”
Hardy will be finishing his running sometime tonight and will watch his team practice while he runs.
