February 3, 2025
PITTSBURGH, PA – The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation has announced that its Highmark Bright Blue Futures community day will be held on Saturday, February 22, celebrating the success of the fourth season of the Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Hunt Armory.
“This ice rink is a real treasure for our community, bringing families together year after year,” said Kenya T. Boswell, senior vice president of community affairs at Highmark Health. “Highmark Bright Blue Futures Community Day is an amazing celebration of this success and our longstanding partnership with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. Together, we continue to make hockey accessible and inclusive to everyone in Pittsburgh.”
The community day, which is also National Try Hockey for Free Day will feature free skating and skate rental, as well as vendor booths from local community groups, games, balloon artists, face painting, music, and more.
During the event, the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and Highmark Health will announce a grant to Pittsburgh-based Day Owl to provide packed backpacks to area nonprofits providing services to children in the foster care system. This initiative will provide nearly 1,000 children in the foster care system in Western Pennsylvania with new bags filled with comfort and personal care items including pajamas, blanket, books, and more. In addition to the funding from the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and Highmark Health, some of the contents were donated by Washington DC area non-profit Comfort Cases and packed with help from World Vision in Sewickley, PA
“Oftentimes, children in the foster care system may have to move homes quickly and may not have the opportunity to collect their personal effects and essentials,” said Yvonne J. Maher, executive director for the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. “These backpacks will provide necessities during a disruptive transitional period in their lives.”
The bags will be distributed to Allegheny County Youth Services, Bethany Christian Services, Every Child Inc., Wesley Family Services, Homeless Children’s Education Fund, and Three Rivers Youth.
Leaders from the Penguins and Highmark will be on hand for the event and available to the media.
To register for the free skate sessions, please visit here .
The historic Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Hunt Armory Ice Rink opened in 2021 and is the first indoor community ice rink within the city of Pittsburgh in 25 years. The facility serves as home to the Pittsburgh Penguins diversity and community programming, as well as public skating and hockey.
Highmark provides significant support to the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation for their continued efforts at the Highmark Hunt Amory. Last July, the Penguins were awarded a Stanley by the NHL for Social Impact and Growth as a result of their efforts at the ice rink.
The Highmark Bright Blue Futures program is designed to ensure healthier, brighter, stronger futures for all, and it focuses on improving equitable access to care, quality of life, and economic resilience in the communities the enterprise serves. Specifically, this program aims to improve outcomes in two critical areas: Community Health and Community and Economic Resilience through corporate giving and employee volunteerism. For more information, visit www.highmark.com/brightbluefutures.