This past weekend I had a very special opportunity thanks to @mrsbozz and a generous donation she received from the local Native American tribe near where we work. As a school social worker, my wife's primary focus is on the mental well being of the children in her building. She recognizes though, that sometimes the mental health of the students is tied directly to the mental health of her staff. With that in mind, the past couple of years she has been writing a grant to the local tribe to receive money to do fun activities with the staff members in her building.
The grants are in place because several years ago, the tribe built a casino near our school district. The way I understand it, at the time, the tribe had the choice to either pay taxes on their earnings from the casino or they could take 2% of their slot profits each year and donate them to a charitable cause.
Obviously, the second option is the better choice, not only does it look good for them, but it also allowed them to build up the infrastructure in the communities around their facility. New roads, emergency vehicles, and buildings have all been acquired over the past decade or so because of the casino. The school district we work for gets just shy of $100,000 per year between two grant cycles. It has been amazing.
Since we work for a public school district, there are state and federal regulations in place that dictate how and what we can spend our budget on. For good reason of course, the public probably wouldn't like it very much if they found out their tax dollar were going towards soda and snacks for the staff members or them taking a field trip to a hockey game as was the case this weekend.
For that reason, the grant dollars become necessary. Those can be spent without restrictions (for the most part), so the continuation of this mental health initiative is very dependent on those funds. She still makes staff pay for their own alcohol if they choose to imbibe, but food is provided by the grant.
As you may have guessed, this past weekend @mrsbozz rented out half of the "party deck" at our local minor league hockey venue so we could catch a game between the Saginaw Spirit and the Kitchener Rangers. The events are held at the Dow Event Center. I have written about this venue before, so I decided not to throw this on #worldmappin. The venue includes an arena as well as a full theater.
You might remember from my past posts, this is the same venue where I had to part with my beloved Leatherman multitool that I had carried with me over over two decades. I was smart enough to leave my new Leatherman at home this time!
It was their annual "Shocks and Saves" charity night, so before the game in the red room they had a panel of doctors and health professionals discussing the importance of CPR and heart health. They had stations set up where kids and adult could learn to do CPR as well as other information. Through this charity night they have been able to place something like 400+ AED machines in schools and public places throughout the state in hopes of preventing heart related fatalities.
As I said, we had to share the party deck with another group, but they kept it pretty well segregated and we didn't have too much interaction with the other group even though they were clearly right there. While @mrsbozz originally had 30 people interested in coming, some of them bailed out at the last minute, so there ended up being only about twenty of us on the party deck.
With an ice cold Coors Light in hand, I settled in to enjoy the game. As of puck drop on Saturday night, Kitchener was third in the league while the Spirit were closer to fifth or sixth in the league, so I wasn't really sure how the game was going to go.
They have a "fanboni" that drives around the middle of the ice with fans on it waving to the crowd while the real zambonis drive around the outer edge and work the ice until they can complete the whole thing. I'm not sure how you get to rid on the Fanboni, but the crowd seemed to love it. Of course, before the game they bring the flags out and the Canadian National Anthem and the American National Anthem are preformed.
I wouldn't say the venue was packed, but it definitely filled in as it got closer to game time. They have a ton of different little areas that you can rent out. If my wife had known so many people were going to end up not showing up, she might have tried to get us one of the corner spots.
As it was, I think we all had a really good time sitting on the party deck. It definitely gives you a unique view of the action.
The Spirit jumped out to an early 3 - 0 lead, but the Rangers were able to chip away at it in the second period and eventually go up 4 to 3. In the third period, the Spirit were able to find the net two more times to make the score 5 to 4. It was close at the end as Kitchener pulled their goalie to get an extra man on the ice but Saginaw held strong to earn the 5 to 4 victory.
It was a really great night with some of the staff that we don't normally see outside of work. I know that they all appreciate the efforts that my wife puts in to help keep them from jumping off a bridge! We are in the heart of the school year right now. After that Christmas break, it's a long haul until Spring Break, so having events like this where teachers and staff can let off a little steam is so important.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
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Sounds like a good work event to me. I have only been to one hockey game before and enjoyed it for the most part. You did what I probably would have and popped a top.
Pretty much everyone was having a good time. I think my only complaint was that you had to walk so far to get the drinks. Plus it was a lot of steps. I was winded by the third round!
Very cool activity that the grant money helped pay for, and donating that money to charity is a no brainer for the tribe! Mental health is important for everyone, it's nice that they realize that!
The 400+ AED's is an awesome thing, and teaching kids CPR is very important. It's just too bad that AED's are still so expensive. It would be nice if every household could afford one and be trained how to use it, most heart arrhythmias and infarctions take place at home after all.
Glad to hear you had a good time!
It was a really good time. The other issue with the AED's is that the expire after a certain amount of time. At least the battery inside of them does. If they just donate them and then don't have a plan to keep them up to date, it could be a problem down the road. We've run into that here where I work.
Battery life is never perpetual, but if they had swappable batteries it would make sense. Not to the manufacturer however, it makes more sense to them to have you buy a whole new one, not just the battery! lol
Haha, yeah.
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This is an experience that I would like to try, it must be a wonderful sporting event, it's a shame that it isn't widely followed as a sport in Italy.
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No, I can't imagine there is too much ice hockey in Italy. They might have a team for the Winter Olympics. I guess I have never really paid attention!
Interesting, I was under impression that Tribal Casinos were tax exempt... Maybe varies by state as some states impose gaming exclusivity fees?
It's possible they were just doing it as a nice thing to do like they do now, but there was always the implication that they were doing it in lieu of paying taxes.
Enjoy the game and use your money wisely and there is lot to improve your daily routine and it is a very beautiful love too When the team wins, happiness comes from within and it feels very good to feel that happiness. When the team loses, there is sadness too, but the feeling says that the team will win again.
It was a really great evening and the fact that they won was icing on the cake!
So good to experience this
That's cool that she was able to get grant I think the teacher and staff mental health is so overlooked still. I think its great she;s looking out for everyone and you guys had a good time.
Thanks, it was a really good game. I am not sure how much longer the tribe is going to continue to give her the grant. She's kind of getting over it too because the staff don't always appreciate it the way they should.