Ishpeming Girls Varsity Basketball team makes Toys for Tots donation

ISHPEMING — The Ishpeming Varsity Girls Basketball team took a quick trip off campus early Wednesday afternoon to drop off their annual Toys for Tots donation.

The tradition started last year for the Hematites when some parents believed that they should be doing more to give back to the community.

Since then, all of the girls on the team gather at least one toy to donate to Toys for Tots to help those that are less fortunate, something that the Hematites are proud to be doing.

“You know, they’re trying to spread the Christmas joy,” said Head Coach Ryan Reichel. “Not everybody has the opportunity to provide gifts for their families, so by having these types of programs for everybody is nice to see. And it’s kind of what we do in the Hematite culture, you know, providing for each other. It’s all for one and one for all.”

For the girls, they feel that this is a fun and great way to help strengthen their team, while also helping out their community.

“I think it makes our team closer, giving back to the community,” said senior guard Emma Poirier. “And it doesn’t only help our community as a whole, but it also helps our own school because there are a lot of people in our school as well that we don’t even know but we’re helping by doing this.”

“It makes you feel good about like giving back to the people who don’t get a lot for Christmas,” said Kayla Koski, another senior guard on the team. “And a lot of people have fun with it. We try to make it a competition to see who can get the best toy and stuff like that.”

The girls both said they hope this tradition continues for the team even after they graduate, and they hope their gifts can help some children in the community to have a Merry Christmas.