Mite Red Team Donates to Mohawk Valley Health System

Dec 29, 2016

You can often find the AHL’s Utica Comets volunteering their time by giving back to the community. The players take part in a wide range of community events, such as reading to children, food drives and much more. Several weeks ago, the players of the Mite Red 2 team for the Utica Jr. Comets had a great idea to get into the holiday spirit. The players and parents of the team felt they should follow the AHL players’ lead and give back to the local community. The players, ranging in age from 6-8 years old, wanted to take part in helping the community and decided they would donate to the Mohawk Valley Health System and Faxton-St. Luke’s.

With the help of their parents, the youth players made knit hats in the Comets blue and green color; Audie stuffed animals were added to the hats and donated by the team to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Mohawk Valley Heath System. A further donation of crayons and coloring sheets were given to the Pediatric Unit at Faxton-St. Luke’s.

Kim Witchley, whose son plays on the Mite team, took the lead in organizing the holiday-themed event. “The children are not only learning the fundamentals of hockey, but also how to work as a team and to be kind and giving to others.” Kim said. “The kids are always excited to help others - they wore their "lucky Blue" jerseys for the picture and were happy to see Audie there to assist in giving their donation to the MVHS employees. They are a bunch of wonderful kids with big hearts, and the coaches are always supportive of team building and community service ideas. We are lucky to have such dedication from the Comets organization and our coaches.”