Over the course of 10 weeks, 13-year-old Tyler Bhalla, was busy raising $10,197 for the New York Presbyterian Children’s Hospital. Tyler created and executed this Independent Service Project as part of the Henrik Lundqvist Foundation Young Ambassador program.
Tyler, an ice hockey goalie, was inspired by Henrik to use his talents on the ice to not only help his team win, but also to do good. He dedicated his spring season to raise money to help kids who are at NY Presbyterian Children’s Hospital. Tyler’s idea was to get as many people as possible to pledge an amount of money for every save he made during the season. At the end of his “Save-A-Thon,” Tyler would multiply his total number of saves by the amount of money pledged and that would be the donation. When Tyler first envisioned the project, he hoped to get about 20 pledges and raise a couple thousand dollars. Well, he more than exceeded his goal!
Tyler’s request to support his mission drew 63 people to donate per save. He played 21 games and made 696 total saves (averaging 33 saves per game) which ultimately raised a generous $15 per save. Tyler kept his donors involved with weekly emails that included pictures and videos from the games played and a progress report showing how much he’d raised to date. It was really fun to receive responses back from his fans cheering him on to keep making those big saves!
This was the first time Tyler took on a fundraising project of this size. It was a lot of work, but he learned a lot too — how to stay organized, how to communicate clearly, how to collect donations and how important it is to thank people for believing in him. Tyler is grateful for all the support and help received to make this project a success. He had so much fun and felt so good about his work that he is planning to make this fundraiser an annual spring event!
Written By Tyler Bhalla
