From Top Shelf To Food Shelf: Support The Greater Boston Food Bank This Weekend

Each year, Runnin' with the Dogs, a blog covering Minnesota-Duluth hockey, leads a pledge drive that asks college hockey fans to donate to a local food bank at this time of year when so many are in need of food. The idea, known as "From Top Shelf to Food Shelf," is to pledge to donate a certain amount of money each time your team scores and donate it to a food bank of your choosing.

Here's the complete description, from RWD:

Here's how it works:

1. You make a pledge based on the performance of your hockey team Dec 4/5/6. Maybe it's $/goal, or cans of food per goal. Maybe it's jars of peanut butter per Sammy Spurrell goal. Get creative! It could be $/save, or $/win. One generous and creative donor has different donation tiers: PP goals are worth more than regular goals, SHGs worth more than PPGs, etc.
2. You pick a food-related charity in your community or in the community in which your team plays. You may live in Azerbaijan, for example, but you might make a donation to a food shelf in Houghton, because you're a Tech fan.
You tell me your pledge. It can be anonymous if you'd like.
3. You tally up what you owe after the results of this upcoming weekend.
4. You donate directly to the charity you've selected. I don't collect the money. I trust that you will make this donation. And you don't have to worry about me eating peanut butter meant for a hungry child.
My pledge right now is $5/goal for tUMD men and women this weekend. Pledges have come in from another tUMD fan, Mankato fan, SCSU fan, and a Man City fan (in a bet with the Mankato fan regarding the Man City-Swansea footy match upcoming, I guess). I look forward to additional pledges rolling in as we get closer to the weekend, and as I spam the crap out of everyone on social media.

As of last year, hockey fans have raised $943 for food banks and similar charities in their communities. This year, we're basically guaranteed to get over $1000. How far over $1000 we go is up to the generous hearts of hockey fans... and the offensive prowess of our favorite teams.

Pledge if you can! Retweet or share this blog post to boost the signal, even if you are not able to donate or have committed your giving elsewhere! Let's make this #FromTopShelfToFoodShelf the best year yet!

The college hockey fan community has responded in a big way so far on Twitter and across the blogosphere, including pledges from BU and UMass fans. BC Interruption will be joining in the pledge drive this year. I am pledging $1 for the Greater Boston Food Bank per goal by both the BC men and BC women's hockey team this weekend, plus an extra $8.88 if Travis Jeke scores (#TeamJeke). If anyone else would like to join me in this initiative, either using those criteria or another of your choosing, feel free to reach out to Donna at @runwiththedogs or leave a comment here so we can leave a running tally of BCI's pledged contributions.

Thank you for your support and Go Eagles!