Prep Hockey Club Raises $1,000 for Gift-A-Mammogram Program

Can a group of high-energy, teenage athletes contribute to a charitable cause? ---The Prep Hockey Club said, “Yes!” With some parental assistance, the club’s players raised $1,000 at their games in October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

The combined Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove and Palatine (PREP) high school hockey club chose to give the money to a local cause: Northwest Community Hospital’s Gift-A-Mammogram program.

Gift-A-Mammogram helps uninsured, low-income people in our community pay for procedures to diagnose and treat breast cancer. Funded entirely by charitable donations, all gifts to the program cover the costs of mammograms, biopsies and other diagnostic tests for women who cannot pay for them and do not qualify for government assistance programs. 

“I often talk to women who are desperate for help," said the NCH's Breast Center manager, Christine Masonick, "Because of the generosity of donors like these players, I don’t have to turn them away."

Through Gift-A-Mammogram, Masonick said, the hospital is able to aid about 100 patients each year. 

Not only did the Prep Hockey Club fundraise for their cause, they found others ways to show their support on the ice. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the players also wore pink shoelaces throughout October. 

“We want the kids to know there’s more to life than hockey," club president Todd Peterson said, "This is a great opportunity to develop responsible and caring young men and women.”

Information provided by Northwest Community Healthcare.