Gallery • 3 Photos

Peter Sherno

Bird Feeder: Table showing food items being donated to the St. Louis Park High School Bird feeder on Dec. 21.

As the boys’ hockey team enters the second half of the season, the program continues to promote its food drive to support the local community during all home games.

The program donates packaged and canned food to the Bird Feeder, a food shelf at the high school for students and families, according to assistant athletic department coordinator Bridgid Hoppmann.

Hoppmann said the food drive allows game spectators to donate food at all of the home games.

“As of now they have had five home games, and during all of those games the food drives have been going on,” Hoppmann said.

Senior Mackenzie Evenson tracks inventory for the Bird Feeder and said, since the beginning of the hockey drive in early December, the drive has supplied 124 packages of food.

Junior hockey player Brody Illstrup said the drive helps the hockey program give back to the community.

“It’s a really great opportunity for our program to help others,” Illstrup said. “A lot of people come to our games, and if everyone brings food to the games, that could amount to a lot of food.”

Hoppman said she hopes other programs make an attempt to give back to the community.

“Other programs have done drives to the Bird Feeder and to local food shelves, but I think more could make a bigger attempt at helping others out,” Hoppman said.

Located inside the west ice rink at the Rec Center near the chuck-a-puck table, the drive stand is open to anyone who wants to donate food, according to Hoppman.

Senior hockey player Lexi Robello said, as the season goes on, the team and the program hope to continue this type of community action by helping other organizations like the Bird Feeder.

“We have started talking about doing other charity events for organizations like the St. Louis Park Emergency Program and Feed My Starving Children,” Robello said. “We want to help those who do not have essential parts of day-to-day life, and that’s what I love about the Bird Feeder and the hockey program.”

The team’s next game takes place at 7 p.m. Jan. 9 at Bloomington Ice Garden against Bloomington Kennedy.