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Skating it forward

| 14 Dec 2017 | 04:21
    photos provided Coaches Joe Chromcik and Allen Magie, together with their young ice hockey players, gathered several truckloads of supplies for the troops overseas. They are shown with the New Jersey Bandits Pee Wee 12UB team.
    photos provided Coaches Joe Chromcik and Allen Magie, together with their young ice hockey players, gathered several truckloads of supplies for the troops overseas. They are shown with the New Jersey Bandits Pee Wee 12UB team.
    Members of the New Jersey Bandits Pee Wee 12UA team helped collect donations for Operation Thank You as well.
    Members of the New Jersey Bandits Pee Wee 12UA team helped collect donations for Operation Thank You as well.
    Operation Thank You, run by Macopin Middle School teacher Rich Dygos, collected tons of supplies for the troops overseas.
    Operation Thank You, run by Macopin Middle School teacher Rich Dygos, collected tons of supplies for the troops overseas.

WEST MILFORD ‑‑ Hockey coaches, players and parents recently banded together to collect food and other supplies for the troops.
Skate It Forward Inc. was started by Dawn and Allen Magie after Allen started coaching youth hockey at the Skylands Ice Arena in Stockholm.
The nonprofit's core mission, they said, is to join together as a hockey family encompassing coaches, players, parents, and hockey organizations to help give back to the community and individuals in need, while incorporating values of leadership, respect, community service, generosity, and sportsmanship in youth athletes while continuing to foster a love of the game.
Originally, Dawn, a teacher at Macopin Middle School in West Milford, and Allen had family members bring supplies for care packages for the troops to their family gathering on Thanksgiving.
They then passed the supplies along to Rich Dygos, a Macopin business teacher, who runs Operation Thank You, which has been sending care packages to troops serving overseas for 14 years.
This year, the Magies took it up a notch and advertised the Operation Thank You donation drive on their “Skate it Forward” Facebook page. It inspired multiple youth hockey teams to donate to the program.
Three truckloads of supplies were ultimately dropped off to Dygos. Some of the things included in the packages were, Dawn Magie said, were: Ramen noodle soups, microwavable meals, granola, fruit rollups, and personal hygiene items such as toothpaste, hand wipes and Chapstick, and playing cards, books, and magazines.