MONROE — A couple of months back, Ethan Rosenstiel wanted to do something for charity and hoped to give back to his community. After talking with his parents and brainstorming with some classmates, the Monroe Middle School eighth-grader had a theme, an event scheduled and a charity in which to give.

A day of exhibition youth hockey, raffles and games will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 8 at SLICE in Monroe featuring the theme: Kids Helping Kids. The charity to receive fundraising dollars will be Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County.

“My parents said to get a committee together, because it would make everything go smoother,” said Ethan about the early days of figuring out the event. 

He chose classmates that he thought would do well helping lead the event, and not just locker buddies or teammates. Fellow eighth-graders Ryan Mathiason, Lizzy Boll, Kate Kundert and Katrina Sathoff were tabbed to help.

Boll’s mother, Kirsten, works with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County, and Ethan said the charity was a natural fit for the event.

“When we knew we were going to do this, we looked up local charities,” Ethan said, adding that BBBS simply made more sense. “Another kid’s mom works with Big Brothers Big Sisters — it made it easy to let them know what was going on.”

Picking SLICE as the location and hockey as the event also made sense. 

“Unfortunately, none of our teams made it to state, so it is kind of like a send-off, end-of-the-year party for the hockey association,” Ethan said.

The hockey game will include Avalanche Peewee and Bantam aged players, which Ethan said is middle school and some freshman-level players. He said they would play four, 10-minute periods, allowing for three intermissions for fun and games on the ice, including a Ladies Long Shot, where women can take a shot from half-ice, aiming for a small goal and could win an auto-detail from R&R Auto Sales or Alphorn Ford. 

Other side attractions include a Mites game during one intermission, with players aged 6 and 7; DJ Zack Wedig; over 20 gift baskets; a 50/50 raffle; silent auction; bake sale; shirts; hats and a raffle for a 55-inch television from Fuzzy’s and the Lions Club. Ethan said more than 15 local businesses have sponsored the event already.

Ethan said that not long after figuring out what to do for the event, word started to spread and sponsors began pouring in. He said his parents, Dan and Kari, stepped up with helping secure donations.

While he’s only about to reach high school, Ethan said he’s already given some serious thought to what he might want to be when he grows up.

“I’ve always wanted to be an architect,” Ethan said, adding that an “athletic director type thing” might also suit him, as he is comfortable filling out schedules.