Heather RensberryMemorial Foundation

Programs and community support

The foundation’s charitable focus areas, and how families and community members can ask about current opportunities.

How to read this page

These are the areas the foundation works to support. Available help depends on the foundation’s resources at any given time, so this page does not describe open applications, eligibility rules or guaranteed assistance. The best way to learn what is currently possible is to contact the foundation.

Youth hockey participation

Encouraging children and teens to try hockey and keep playing.

Every young player starts somewhere. For some, the hardest part is the first step: finding out whether they like the game before a family commits to a season of gear and fees.

This focus area is about widening the door. The foundation supports efforts that help young people in the Alpena area discover hockey, feel welcome at the rink and stay with the sport as they grow.

What support can look like

  • Help that makes it easier for a first-time player to get on the ice
  • Encouragement for players who might otherwise leave the game because of cost
  • Support for youth hockey activities in the local community
Who this is meant forChildren and teens in Alpena and the surrounding area who want to play, and the families supporting them.

Goaltender development

Helping young goalies learn a demanding position, the one Heather played.

Goaltending is different from every other position on the ice. It has its own equipment, its own techniques and its own pressures, and young goalies often get less specialized instruction than skaters.

Heather played goal and was remembered for helping new goalies, young and old. Supporting the next generation of goaltenders is the most direct way the foundation continues that.

What support can look like

  • Goalie clinics and position-specific training opportunities
  • Help with the cost of goaltending equipment, which often costs more than a skater’s gear
  • Encouragement for players curious about trying the position
Who this is meant forYoung goaltenders at any level, including players who are considering the position for the first time.

Equipment and resources

Reducing the cost of the gear that can keep a family from signing up.

Skates, helmets, pads, gloves and sticks are necessary before a young player can take part safely. Children outgrow them quickly, and replacing equipment every season adds up.

The foundation’s focus on equipment is about making sure the cost of gear does not decide whether a child plays.

What support can look like

  • Help obtaining properly fitting, safe equipment for young players
  • Support for goaltending equipment in particular
  • Encouraging the community to pass along usable gear that young players have outgrown, when the foundation can accept it
Who this is meant forYoung players and families for whom the cost of equipment is a barrier to playing.

Access to ice time

Supporting practice and skill-development time on the ice.

Skills are built through repetition, and repetition needs ice. Ice time is one of the real costs of youth hockey, for families and for the groups that organize practices and clinics.

This focus area supports opportunities for young athletes to spend more meaningful time on the ice, learning and improving.

What support can look like

  • Support for ice time connected to youth skill development
  • Help for clinics and practice sessions that serve young players
  • Opportunities connected to local ice facilities in the Alpena area
Who this is meant forYoung players and youth hockey activities in the Alpena area that need practice and development time.

Community hockey activities

Bringing players, families and supporters together around the game and around Heather’s memory.

Youth hockey depends on a community of adults who show up: coaches, volunteers, parents, officials, sponsors and fans. Memorial events give that community a way to gather, remember Heather and raise support for young players.

The foundation’s community focus includes memorial hockey activities, local fundraising and awareness of youth hockey opportunities in the area.

What support can look like

  • Memorial hockey events held in Heather’s name
  • Community fundraising that benefits youth hockey
  • Helping families learn about opportunities to get involved in the local game
Who this is meant forThe wider Alpena hockey community, including players of all ages, families, volunteers and supporters.

Ask about current opportunities

If you are a parent, guardian, coach or community member and one of these areas fits a need you know about, email the foundation. Share as much or as little as you are comfortable with. Inquiries are handled with discretion.

Email the foundation Use the contact form