DefendingTheBlueLine

Defending The Base Line is helping children of armed service members participate in baseball programs.  On May 18, 2013 at Veterans Park in Hastings, MN,  Defending The Blue Line announced their new baseball program offering benefits to help military kids play the game. The event was held on Armed Forces Day with the Hastings VFW presenting the flag. There were activities for the kids and then the game between the Hastings Hawks and the Minneapolis Patriots took place. Check out all of the photos from the event here.

Go to DefendingTheBaseLine.org for more information on benefits or email questions to: info@DefendingTheBaseLine.org

HOW WE HELP:  Our mission at Defending The Base Line is ensuring that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of baseball. We accomplish this by providing free equipment for military kids, special events, and financial assistance for registration fees and other costs associated with baseball.

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President Harry S. Truman believed that it was important for the citizens of the United States of America to thank our military members for their service to our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced that their would now be a special Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days.

On this day of celebration, Defending The Blue Line would like to send out a very special thank you to all who have served and are presently serving in the military.

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Tonight at 7:00pm, Defending The Blue Line will be announcing it’s new program, Defending The Base Line. This will take place in Hastings, MN during the game between the Hastings Hawks and the Minneapolis Patriots at Veterans Park.

It is free admission to get into the baseball game and there will be a special flag raising by the Hastings VFW to celebrate Armed Forces Day.

Defending The Base Line is the new benefit program helping children of armed service members participate in baseball programs. Defending The Base Line actively works to ensure that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of baseball. We will be providing free baseball equipment and grants for association fees.

Please check out our new DefendingTheBaseLine.org website where we will soon have submission forms up for free baseball equipment and grants for military children.

For questions and more information contact: info@DefendingTheBaseLine.org

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Testimonial from a wounded soldier:

“I was seriously wounded by gunfire in Afghanistan and since then I have been going through multiple surgeries and rehab. Hockey has become even more important than it had been prior to that deployment as it is the activity which really binds us as a family. We would like to thank you again for the generous grant we received from your organization last year for both our boys.” – Wade S.

Our supporters would like to hear more stories about how DTBL has helped a military child continue with their dreams of playing hockey. We would like to encourage service members, their families, and their friends to share a short story with us about how Defending The Blue Line has helped them or helped someone they know. You can visit our Testimonial page to submit your story HERE…….

Our mission at Defending The Blue Line is ensuring that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of hockey. We accomplish this by providing free equipment for military kids, hockey camps, special events, and financial assistance for registration fees and other costs associated with hockey.

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Camo Jersey auction

Thank you to everyone who bid on the MN Wild Camo Jersey auction.

JERSEYS WERE AUCTIONED OFF ONLINE TO BENEFIT DEFENDING THE BLUE LINE AND MINNESOTA WILD FOUNDATION

SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Minnesota Wild announced today that players will wear custom-designed camouflage jerseys during pre-game warm-ups tonight (Tuesday, April 23), when it hosts the Los Angeles Kings at 7 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center. The Minnesota National Guard is the presenting partner for this game.

These autographed camouflage jerseys will be available in an online auction starting on Friday, April 26 on the Community page of www.wild.com. The auction will run through Sunday, May 12. Proceeds from the online auction will benefit the Minnesota Wild Foundation and Defending The Blue Line.

Defending The Blue Line is excited for this opportunity to further help military families. Keeping the kids focused and active in hockey is a great way to help keep their minds off of a parent’s  upcoming or current deployment. For more information on how you can help Defending The Blue Line please visit www.DefendingTheBlueLine.org.

Since its inception in 2000, the Minnesota Wild has invested nearly eight million dollars back into the community. The organization has provided autographed and non-autographed merchandise for local fundraisers and benefits, made contributions to non-profit organizations, implemented successful events and provided awareness and brand connectivity for smaller non-profit organizations.

– WILD –

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On April 23, 2013, Zach Parise donated $10,000 to Defending The Blue Line to help military kids play hockey. See the video HERE…

Winter Olympic star and MN Wild Zach Parise has been supporting Defending The Blue Line for a while now. Zach participated in the NHL Charity Hockey Game on July 20, 2011 in Cottage Grove, MN. The event was set to benefit Hastings & Cottage Grove youth hockey associations, as well as Defending the Blue Line.

Along with Easton Hockey he also helped out Defending The Blue Line in 2011 with a used equipment gear drive for the military kids.

Parise also attended the NHL Players Charity Game to benefit DTBL on June 20, 2012.  It was a great day and evening of autographs and a hockey game between Team East/Air Force/Fox9 vs Team West/Army/KARE11.

On October 28, 2012, Zach Parise was a headliner in the NHL Players Charity Game. Listen to his interview with K102′s morning crew here…

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Thank You Defending The Blue Line

“Thanks again for this past Friday’s Wild game and for what you each are doing. We appreciate that you were willing to work on this for Sean and especially for Noah. We are grateful – Erik Kirsch, Noah, Abby and Ian”

Noah has stage 4 cancer, and his favorite uncle and “best buddy” is serving in Afghanistan.  Both love hockey.

Our supporters would like to hear more stories about how DTBL has helped a military child or family attend an NHL hockey game. We would like to encourage service members, their families, and their friends to share a short story with us about how Defending The Blue Line has helped them or helped someone they know. You can visit our Testimonial page to submit your story HERE…….

Our mission at Defending The Blue Line is ensuring that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of hockey. We accomplish this by providing free equipment for military kids, hockey camps, special events, and financial assistance for registration fees and other costs associated with hockey.

Subscribe to Defending The Blue Line’s RSS blog feed 

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Thank you to all DTBL supporters who signed the petition to keep Cleland Ice Rink open and also for the Caroline Hurricanes support. Your voices have been heard and we are so excited. Please read the article below:

From FayObserver.com

By Ali Rockett
Staff writer

Fort Bragg’s Cleland Ice Rink is open for good, Fort Bragg officials announced Thursday.

The rink had been scheduled to close May 24 and remain shut down until Sept. 15 as part of the post’s cost-saving measures.

A new fee structure that roughly doubles what visitors previously paid to use the rink has been adopted, Fort Bragg spokesman Ben Abel said.

Weekday admission during public skate sessions increased from $4 to $7, which includes skates. Weekend prices went from $7 to $10. Public ice skating hours and prices vary.

“This allows for the rink to remain open, which we are happy to see happen,” Abel said.

The rink closed last summer for several months, Abel said, because of budget constraints.

The prospect of it closing again brought community outcries on Facebook and online petitions.

Jennifer Adams, secretary of the Cape Fear Youth FireAntz Hockey Association, said the rink was full of skaters Thursday. The association has played its games in the facility for more than 12 years.

“It’s all positive here,” she said. “Everyone is very excited to still be in the rink. We’re extremely grateful for all the community support we’ve had and to Fort Bragg for listening to us and finding a way to work it out.

“It feels like a good victory today.”

Adams and her husband, Mike, a military officer, have two sons, Duncan and Drake, who play hockey. Delaney, their daughter, figure skates.

The next closest rink is more than 70 miles away in Garner, Adams said, and the prices are higher there.

“So not only would it have been the added expense and inconvenience to travel, but at an increased cost,” Adams said.

The youth hockey league, which has grown by 20 percent over the last three years and includes about 100 families, will start its fall assessment in June at Cleland, Adams said. Plans are to establish a summer league and play until the regular season begins in September.

“There is a sense of the relief for an established plan instead of the uncertainty before,” she said. “To have it closed down for five months was going to be a cramp for people.”

Abel and Adams said the facility at Fort Bragg is unique. Abel said it is the only ice rink on a military installation in the lower 48 states. It includes an outdoor in-line skating rink.

Cleland is used for various activities, including youth hockey games, figure skating, private skating lessons, birthday parties and open recreational skating. Fort Bragg uses the facility for unit physical fitness training.

Staff writer Ali Rockett can be reached at rocketta@fayobserver.com or 486-3528.

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2013 San Jose Equipment Drive:

With the great success of the San Jose, California equipment drive in 2011, Brent Burns and Cathy Andrade decided to do another drive in 2013. It was amazing to see how so many people participated in this drive that benefitted so many military families. The drive went from April 8 – April 19, 2013.

There were raffle give-a-ways from Graf Canada and Brent Burn’s autographed items. This drive was also to help celebrate and honor Cathy Andrade’s Power Hour’s 15th Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Cathy, from DTBL.

Total equipment donated: 242 equipment pieces (57 pairs skates) and 172 socks/jersey/soft misc.

You can see more photos of the equipment drive at Sharks Ice HERE…

San Jose Sharks Brent Burns has been a supporter of DTBL since 2009 when the organization began. He has provided suites at Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks games for 4 years now for DTBL military kids. Cathy Andrade has also been a supporter of DTBL for 3 years. She provides free camp slots to DTBL military kids every season as well as coordinating the equipment drives.  A very big thanks goes out to these 2 special people and to all the volunteers who helped out for this and other equipment drives.

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