University Times

UPMC has donated more than $1 million in Pittsburgh Penguins hockey tickets to the Tickets for Kids Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit charity committed to enriching the lives of underserved children and their families. More than 14,000 tickets will be distributed to children in local communities through various social service organizations that are partners of the Tickets for Kids Foundation.

The foundation fulfills its mission by obtaining tickets to a wide variety of local events and attractions — including educational, arts and cultural, family entertainment and sporting events — and donating those tickets to needy children in neighborhoods of the city and surrounding counties. The foundation serves as a link between organizations that have tickets to distribute and those that will use them responsibly.

In addition to the ticket donation, UPMC has given a $50,000 cash gift to the Tickets for Kids Foundation to support its Discovering My Neighborhood program. That program ensures that local children are welcomed into events, activities and landmarks within the Greater Pittsburgh area.

The total UPMC/Penguins gift marks the single largest donation to Tickets for Kids. UPMC has been a corporate sponsor and official sports medicine provider for the Penguins since 1999.

For more information on the Tickets for Kids Foundation call 412/781-KIDS.