Skaters Helping Others

Date: 1/4/2010

(pictured bottom row, left to right) Sarah Jane Meak, Jamie Howe, Holly Roberts, Adrianna Breda, Priyanka Devabaktuni. (middle row) Jennafer Roberts. (back row) Heather Morton, Hannah Ketrinchek, Mollie DeVoie, Jasmyne Capdeville, Cayla Rossini, Emily Rossini, Sojung Park and Haley Ketrinchek.

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On Dec. 19 at Cyr Arena in Forest Park, FMC Ice Sports hosted its first "Holiday Spectacular" in hopes of collecting canned goods for local food banks and survival centers in the area. Forty-two skaters from Western Massachusetts (ages two to adult) participated in the event. Eight-year-olds Luke Lessard of Springfield and Allison Pollard of Hampden commented, "It was a lot of fun pretending to be on the Polar Express we had a lot of fun." The event was a hit and FMC collected and donated two huge bins of food, which were donated to the Community Survival Center in Indian Orchard.

FMC Ice Sports is a fairly new organization, which hosts learn to skate classes at both Cyr and Smead arenas. Skaters taking part in the Learn to Skate programs participated in the event by showing off the skills they had learned in group numbers, while local competitive skaters from Greenfield and the Springfield area provided the solo numbers. Skaters did not have to be a member of FMC in order to participate, they just needed to love to skate and want to do good for local families. Sixteen-year-old Ashley Assad of Wilbraham said, "It was great getting back on the ice again, especially when you know that your efforts will result in putting a smile on the face of a family in need."