Our Mission
Our Goal
It’s pretty simple….Get more kids to the rink. And keep them coming back.
By introducing more kids to hockey, Skatesgiving strengthens community ties, promotes excellent skills in our youth, and fosters exercise and good mental health at an early age.
Funds raised from the Breckenridge Skatesgiving event are donated to Summit Youth Hockey to fund free hockey for children under 8, and hopefully provide scholarships for older age groups to participate in programs as they progress through squirts, peewees, and bantams, and to assist with gear as needed. Our goal is to use those funds to introduce children to an activity that teaches teamwork, confidence and good sportsmanship.
We also plan to add a few communities to the SkatesGiving event each year. Our agenda is to help each local youth hockey program grow and recreate the success we have had in Breckenridge.
For 2023, we are excited to continue SkatesGiving in Breck and Gunnison. We are thrilled to add SkatesGiving events in Vail and Grand Junction and to get it cranked up in Glenwood Springs. In addition to expanding locations to support the communities local programs, we plan to layer in some scholarships for the Vail International Hockey trip to Eastern Europe in April of 2024. We love their mission and fully support their efforts to “immerse players in a completely different world to show them totally different ways of doing things and to gain awareness of new customs, cultures, people and places.”
Their statement that “Travel forces players to consider fresh ideas, it gives them a wider world view, one that will make a better, more rounded global citizen” resonates with Barb and I and we look forward to making scholarships to Vail International Hockey a part of efforts every year. (To learn more check out VailInternationalHockey.org)
Thank you for supporting SkatesGiving in 2023!
Sincerely,
Todd and Barb Rankin
Our Impact (So Far)
Because of the high cost of hockey, SkatesGiving facilitates more children playing a sport that they might not otherwise play. This provides life skills that encourage leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship, exercise, and strong relationships.
$160k +
funds raised
6 seasons
of hockey sponsored
scholarships
multiple provided
3 teams
given new gear
$160k +
funds raised
scholarships
provided
6 seasons
of hockey sponsored
3 teams
given new gear
Our Commitment
To bring the benefits of SkatesGiving to other communities across the country. As we expand to different locations, We plan to provide sponsorship matching to provide seed funds so that Skatesgiving can impact each of the local programs. As we expand to multiple locations, local sponsorship funds, and drop-in donations raised in each community will remain in that location.
We will also work to bring in title sponsors whose funds will spread across all participating hockey programs. Thank you for being a part of Skatesgiving and supporting our mission.
2022 Recap
In 2022, the event grew substantially in Breckenridge. We rented over 7 hours of ice, had almost 200 skaters and sold over 140 pies. The second year of SkatesGiving was a success in Gunnison as well.
The event raised close to $50k in Breck and close to $2k in Gunnison. It also funded some ice purchases for the Mountain Select programs in Gunnison. SkatesGiving has raised over $160k in support of youth hockey since it’s inception.
2021 Recap
In 2021, we hoped to add SkatesGiving events in Gunnison and Glenwood Springs, Colorado and also in Canandaigua, New York.
In Gunnison, proceeds from the skate were used to provide Free Youth Hockey and Purchasing Gear for West Elk Hockey just like Summit Youth Hockey does in Breckenridge. West Elk Hockey provides hockey for Gunnison and Crested Butte, Colorado.
The event in Glenwood in 2021 was derailed by a failed compressor a few days before Thanksgiving. No ice = no hockey. Grizzly Hockey will hopefully bring the event back in 2023. GSYHA (Grizzly Hockey) will be utilizing the proceeds from this event to subsidize the cost of all incoming 8U aged players for the 2022/2023 season; their goal is to offer these incoming 8U players & families the opportunity to participate at no cost to them.
The Canandaigua Knights Youth Hockey had planned to partner with their local Dick’s sporting goods at their outdoor rink to host a SkatesGiving on Black Friday. Rain the day after Thanksgiving in 2021 put an end to the event in Canandaigua.
In addition to expanding SkatesGiving events to multiple locations, SkatesGiving sponsored the 10U team on the Mountain Selects. SkatesGiving recognizes the value of youth hockey and promoting the availability to everyone in the mountains and to additional age groups. At SkatesGiving, we align with the Mountain Select goal of making the sport accessible and generating awareness of the positive growth it brings to young athletes.
Despite some rain and a failed compressor, between Breckenridge and Gunnison we raised about $50k.
Gallery Password: skate21
2019 & 2020 Recaps
2019 was our kickoff year as an official fundraiser and we raised just over $25k.
In 2020, we were all fundraising and no skate.
Covid was raging and public events were not. Thanks to our incredibly giving community in Breck, we raised just over $30k.
