1st Place Bruins Score Hat Trick for Kids with AIDS

It was just last spring that I was driving through downtown Boston the day of the parade for the world champion Boston Celtics. All around me was a sea of green and white. It was just an incredible sight after seeing so many parades with Red Sox red and Patriots blue. Yeah, we've had a good run in Boston.

I remember thinking, "Wow, wouldn't it be awesome if the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup and we had a black and gold parade down Boylston Street!" Well, it's looking like that may happen as the Bruins are playing great hockey this year (although @shannonpaul may see things differently!)

The best part of their success is that the Bruins  haven't forgotten the people of Boston who love them so much. That's one of the reasons why they signed for a special program to support our pediatric AIDS program, The SPARK Center, with restaurant chain Fuddruckers and party retailer iParty.

Having the Bruins aboard made the program a snap to sell because they offered special incentives, including player appearances and promotion at Bruins games at the TD Banknorth Garden.

In addition to scoring two partners, the Bruins scored a hat trick by putting us on the radar of Virgin America, which will begin service out of Boston next month.

The Spark Center is one of the charities that could win $25,000.  All you need to do to help us win is to vote here.

But if you look at the list of charities involved you'll see a lot of good ones. All very deserving. But The Spark Center program here at BMC helps some of the most vulnerable and poorest kids in the City. Kids who literally have no other place to go. These services are not covered by health insurance. And with the economy lurching, it's uncertain if there will be any funding beyond the generosity of people like Virgin America and you to keep this program alive.

It's a shootout the Bruins plan to win. So do we.