Wild donate $10,000 to MercyOne to upgrade pediatric rooms

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wild, in conjunction with the Minnesota Wild Foundation, today announced the donation of $10,000 to MercyOne. The gift will help MercyOne enhance its pediatric unit, with a portion of the funds going toward outfitting individual rooms with new gaming consoles and video games including NHL 23. 

“We are dedicated to being a contributing partner to our community and growing the sport of hockey in Des Moines,” said Allie Brown, Vice President of Business Operations for the Iowa Wild. “MercyOne has been a supporter of the Wild since our inaugural season ten years ago. We always love giving back to them and are excited to support the enhancement of their pediatrics unit.” 

The Wild previously donated 22 Xbox consoles, video games, and an air hockey table to MercyOne Children’s Hospital in August 2016. While the patients have used these consoles to watch movies and play games, they are now too old to receive updates. The new consoles will allow patients to play NHL 23 at any time or log into personal accounts to stream their favorite shows and movies.  

“This donation will help MercyOne provide a sense of normalcy for children in inpatient care. Video games provide young patients with the opportunity to disconnect from their care for minutes or hours of their day,” said Rob Gavora, Vice President of Women’s and Children’s Hospital Services at MercyOne Des Moines. “The Iowa Wild are longstanding partners of MercyOne and we are incredibly excited to continue our partnership.” 

The Minnesota Wild Foundation supports pediatric medical causes, serves as the largest non-member funding source for Minnesota Hockey, and provides fundraising opportunities for youth hockey associations across the Minnesota. Since its inception in 2009, the Wild Foundation has distributed more than $4.9 million in grants to hockey organizations and children’s medical related charities and has dispersed over $2.8 million to local charities through its Split the Pot Raffle program.  

Iowa Wild hockey is presented by MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.iowawild.com. Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the team’s website at www.iowawild.com. Group tickets (10 or more), suites, Wild 365 memberships or premium tickets can be purchased by contacting the Iowa Wild Ticket Department at 515-564-8700 or tickets@iowawild.com. The 2022-23 season marks the 10th anniversary of Iowa Wild hockey. Fans can purchase season tickets for the 10th anniversary season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.