Thunder Raises Record of Over $650,000 In Charity

Published on May 20, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Thunder, a two-time recipient of the ECHL "Award of Excellence," announced in conjunction with its charitable arm, the Stockton Thunder and Lightning Foundation that a Thunder record of $656,977 was donated in cash, tickets, memorabilia and other items to charity in 2009-10, toppling its charitable record of over $550,000 set in 2008-09.

The Thunder drew over 6,000 fans per game for the fifth straight season and continued to make remarkable strides by reaching out to various community causes and charities and assist in improving lives of people in the Northern California and Central Valley region. The Thunder toppled a record mark for the fourth year in a row and nearly reaching $2 million in charitable donations in the organization's five-year history.

"The Stockton Thunder takes great pride in being a good community partner and there are so many worthy causes in our community that we are happy to support," said Thunder president Dan Chapman. "Whether it's Thunder Goes Pink, the Teddy Bear Toss or simply donating items to local schools, we know we have the ability to make a positive difference and we also thank our wonderful fans for their generosity too."

The success on the ice was no different - closing an admirable run in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, the club's deepest to date, the Thunder advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time in team history and came within six wins of a Kelly Cup championship under the direction of second-year head coach Matt Thomas.

Among the 2009-10 season community highlights:

THUNDER GOES PINK IV (November 6-7, 2009) The flagship event of all Thunder fundraising outreach events during the hockey, the wildly popular "Thunder Goes Pink" event, in its fourth year, continued to help spotlight and raise funds to benefit local breast cancer treatment and prevention. The success of the event, which debuted in November 2006, has inspired other teams across the ECHL to host similar "Pink-themed" events of their own.

"Thunder Goes Pink IV," presented by St. Joseph's Medical Center in association with Food-4-Less/Rancho San Miguel Markets and Antonini Freight Express, once again proved to be a definitive success, raising $32,480 in cash, tickets and memorabilia, split evenly between the event beneficiaries: American Cancer Society - Stockton Field Office and St. Joseph's Foundation - Breast Cancer Services.

The Thunder has boosted its all-time, four-year total of funds raise through "Pink" to over $145,000.

COATS FOR KIDS (November 15, 2009) On November 15, 2009, the Thunder hosted its fifth annual "Coats for Kids" drive, helping KXTV-TV News10 to provide coats to needy children during winter season. Each fan who donated a coat at the doors of Stockton Arena received a ticket voucher good for free admission to the 4:00 p.m. game that day against the Idaho Steelheads.

This year, 622 coats were collected for the cause.

SCHOOL INCENTIVE PROGRAMS (season-long); TAKING COLLEGE BY STORM (December 5, 2009) Continuing its drive to be active in the area of educational initiatives in the Northern California region, the Thunder continued its commitment for the second straight year with its "Taking College by Storm" program and other school incentive programs, designed to reward students throughout San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Sacramento counties with a free ticket to a Thunder game for achievements such as perfect attendance, meeting reading goals, or earning honor roll recognition.

Through these programs, the Thunder was able to donate $430,262 worth of ticket vouchers to honored students.

For the second straight year, the Thunder partnered with the Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) to take part in the special initiative designed to encourage high school seniors within SUSD to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

Students within the district who took the SAT received a free ticket voucher to the Thunder's December 5 game against the Bakersfield Condors. A total of 1,400 ticket vouchers were handed out to encourage eligible seniors to take the exam in California.

TEDDY BEAR TOSS (January 30, 2010) The Stockton Thunder once again showed its support to the United Way with its fifth annual Teddy Bear Toss event, presented by Jackson Rancheria, California Water Service Company, KAT Country and News10, highlighting one of the most memorable games in Thunder history and longest in ECHL regular season history.

The annual tradition invites fans to shower the ice surface with stuffed animals when the Thunder scores their first goal of the game.

In spite of a 1-0 Victoria shootout win over the Thunder, fans exuded their patience and loyalty. The game went 16 rounds in the shootout (finishing 10 shooters shy of the ECHL record) and after the game ended, volunteers from the Woodbridge Fire Department, the Stockton Fire Department, and the United Way, along with the Lightning Shockwave Dancers collected the donations on the ice.

The Thunder was able to collect a record 4,348 bears and other stuffed animals to donate to the United Way who in turn distributed them to local children's charities.

On Tuesday, February 9, Thunder goaltenders Bryan Pitton and Andrew Perugini, captain Craig Valette, defenseman Bryan Young and others visited the United Way to wish the kids well, dive into the bears, distribute to meet local children and sign autographs.

"EASY BEING GREEN" CAMPAIGN (March 5-6, 2010) This year, the Stockton Thunder continued its growing "Easy Being Green" Campaign, with a "green weekend" on March 5-6 in two games against Victoria. The two-day event, which drew over 13,500 fans, featured a pre-game "Green Fair" (before each game) featuring local eco-friendly businesses and organizations distributing information and green-themed giveaways.

The event also featured an "Easy Being Green Award," in which $2 from each individual or group ticket sold, along with a portion of the proceeds from the pre-game "Green Fair," were collected to be awarded to a local eco-friendly business for donation to Premier Finishing's Green Award recipient.

The Thunder was able to raise over $12,000 for this year's winner - local company Premier Finishing's beneficiary companies, the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin County and Way of Compassion.

Continuing its mission as an active community leader in 2010-11, the Thunder was active in other involvement for this past year, which also included numerous player and mascot appearances at schools, churches, and community events.

The proud ECHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, the Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, led the ECHL in attendance for four consecutive seasons and drew over 200,000 fans for the fifth consecutive season in 2009-10. Season tickets for 2010-11 are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit http://www.stocktonthunder.com/.

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