With the Kelowna Rockets kicking off its Western Hockey League exhibition schedule this Friday in Kelowna, the team will also kick off another season of charity work in the city.

The Rockets have two home exhibition games this season as they will hit the ice at Prospera Place Friday against Kamloops as well as Sept. 7 against Vancouver.

The club will donate $2 from each exhibition ticket to the Cop for Kids, an organization that assists children that are in medical, physical or traumatic crisis in the Southern Interior region of BC.

Since the Rockets first partnered with Cops for Kids to raise money in 2001, the team and its fans have raised $34,500 for the organization.

"We're very proud of our history with the Cops for Kids organization and with all of the groups that we work with throughout the year to try and raise money for different causes," said Anne-Marie Hamilton, the Rockets director of marketing. "It's important to us that we give back to the community and we can always count on our fans to step up and help out."

Rockets fundraising efforts begin each summer with the annual Alumni Golf and Hockey event which has been raising funds for the Kelowna General Hospital for more than a dozen years. Close to $400,000 has been raised for KGH though the Rockets Alumni with money being directed to KGH's orthopedic ward for the past several years.

This year the Rockets will also hold several other charity events at Prospera Place including Paint the Rink Pink (Oct. 11) which will raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society and the team's first ever Teddy Bear Toss (Dec. 6) with Kelowna General Hospital stepping forward to accept close to 6,000 teddy bears.

Several times a season fans are asked to bring non-perishable items for the Kelowna Community Food Bank while different groups will also utilize Rockets games to spread awareness or raise money for their charity.

A few other groups the Rockets work with include but are not limited to:

-The SPCA
-The Heart and Stroke Foundation
-The Canadian Cancer Society
-Brain Trust Canada
-The YMCA
-The Have a Heart Radio Thon
-Kelowna Minor Hockey

Tickets are on sale through www.selectyourtickets.com for the Rockets home exhibition games on Friday against Kamloops and Sept. 7 against Vancouver with partial proceeds to Cops for Kids.

The Rockets open the WHL season on Sept. 20 in Kamloops and hold its home opener on Sept. 21, also against Kamloops.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013