Pledge Numbers

I know it goes without saying at this point, but I’m going to say it again: Detroit Red Wings fans are the most generous fans there are, and it shouldn’t surprise any of us to see that — once again — a group of dedicated wingnuts have pledged to donate a hefty sum to Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation later this week when we gather for H2H2.

Last year, at the inaugural Herm 2 Hockeytown, we were able to donate somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000 — and that’s after the cost of bringing Herm to Hockeytown. Of that total, a little more than $2,500 came from TPL pledges, and we were all stunned at the success of what was essentially just a silly way to pass a few weeks and make a few games more interesting.

Truth be told, I was hoping to double that amount with this season’s pledge drive. We decided that we’d host the drive for twelve games, take as many propositions as we could handle and hope to come out on the other end able to give $5,000 to Children’s Hospital.

Well, you demolished that number. A few statistics:

:: We had 93 different pledgers.
:: When the pledges were typed onto a Word document, it spanned 17 pages.
:: In total, we received 517 different pledges to keep track of.
:: Every player was sponsored, should they score a goal — ranging from $17 for a Jakub Kindl goal to over $200 for a Johan Franzen goal.
:: Thanks to Darren McCarty’s tweeting of H2H2, we raised an additional $300.
:: Our top pledger, who wishes to remain anonymous, has pledged $1402. Second place, who also wishes to remain anonymous, has pledged $800.
:: In all, 27 different people pledged $100 or more.

In total, the twelve-game pledge period raised $8,894.62 for the Foundation. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve received a handful of donations unrelated to the pledge drive, and we have a few things planned for the day of the event (bring your twenties!) and we should be able to surpass $10,000 if all goes well.

Congratulations, Red Wing Nation. That’s a massive number — particularly in a time when the economy isn’t very strong and every penny counts in your home, like it does in mine. Those of us that are lucky enough to be involved with H2H2 on a coordinating level can’t thank you enough for your insane generosity and creativity during the pledge drive. I don’t know what 2012 has in store for the event, but I’m looking forward to hosting this pledge drive again — and counting more and more propositions for you. It’s been my pleasure.