PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland Winterhawks’ annual Shop With a Hawk event is Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Since 2013, the ice hockey team has partnered with emergency food and clothing relief organization Sunshine Division and the Portland Police Bureau to provide children in need with gifts for the holiday season.
This year, the players will join Chief Joseph Elementary School students ages 7 to 10 on a shopping spree. According to the Oregon Department of Education’s 2021-22 At-a-Glance School Profile, 75% of the North Portland school’s “regular attenders” received free or reduced-price lunch in the 2021-2022 school year.
The students selected for Shop With a Hawk 2023 were identified by PPB school resource officers who help with the Izzy’s Kids program, also known as Shop With a Cop.
“For more than 30 years Sunshine Division has funded and worked with the Portland Police Bureau to identify school-age children living within the city of Portland whose families cannot afford to outfit them with new school clothes,” the organization said of the program.
Twenty-four children can shop for new school clothes, toys and more with help from the Winterhawks this Wednesday. The Winterhawks Booster Club will provide each of them with a $100 gift card to use in a Fred Meyer store.
This is the tenth annual Shop With a Hawk event.