How Sarah Thompson’s Sticks Together Foundation is Providing Community through Hockey

St. Lawrence forward Sarah Thompson was heartbroken when she found out Tigmans Village on the island of Palawan in the Philippines was experiencing massive flooding. Houses had been destroyed, streets were impassable, and food and water were unavailable to some. Thompson communicated with some of the residents she knew there and was able to raise $1000 in 24 hours to help them. 

Thompson was able to quickly help out during the devastation because she had spent weeks in the Philippines in 2024 with her not-for-profit foundation Sticks Together. Though she had originally visited the Philippines to teach hockey, the connection she made with the community remained even months after her foundation’s departure, allowing her to raise money to fund care packages for those in need.  But what began as an idea to share her love for hockey and to expose others to a sport they may not have access to has blossomed into a yearly trip to a different part of the globe and a connection that cannot be broken.

At just 23 years old, Thompson is now a three-time finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, one given to a student-athlete in college hockey who makes significant contributions to their team and their community through leadership in volunteerism.

“I feel my vision was at first [to] grow the game of hockey, teach hockey. But it's kind of molded to a point where it's more about the relationships I make with these communities, and how I can continuously support them on things other than just hockey,” Thompson told The Ice Garden.

Sticks Together came to life when Thompson and her Syracuse teammates talked about taking advantage of the Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities provided to student-athletes in the NCAA in 2021. This allows student-athletes to use their personal brand to receive compensation, endorse brands, or in Thompson’s case, host camps and clinics.

What began as a joke amongst them to figure out what their own brand would be led Thompson down the path to creating her foundation. She wanted her brand to represent giving back and growing the game. She began to think more about her identity rather than her brand and at one point she realized she was aiming for something that would be greater than herself. She had always wanted to volunteer and to immerse herself in other cultures, and she knew the best way to help out other communities would be through hockey. As Sticks Together trips have grown, it has provided opportunities for Thompson’s friends to also take part and learn from the communities they’ve had the chance to visit and work with.

At its core, her foundation aims to provide the necessary resources to give children in underprivileged communities the opportunity to learn and play the sport of hockey. Sticks Together donates recycled hockey equipment and takes time to teach the sport to students in different parts of the world. Their desire to provide the opportunity to play hockey to communities that may not otherwise stems from Thompson’s own personal life. Growing up she was able to try her hand in different sports and different passions including music and drama and felt fortunate she could pursue whatever she wanted to when she decided on it. 

“I think for a lot of these kids in these communities, there's very few resources and opportunities for them. Part of the passion for Sticks Together came from being able to get there and give them something else to try and fall in love with because not every kid is going to love playing soccer,” Thompson said. “Being able to give them more opportunity to learn something different is really special, even if it's for just a short time.”

Teaching participants in her short time there isn’t the main purpose of the trips either. Thompson emphasizes she does her best to educate teachers and others in the community so they can then continue to teach others. One of the biggest things Thompson has learned is that it's not just about growing the game but also being able to build connections with communities and maintain them. 

“The biggest thing I've learned from one trip to the next is not necessarily just growing the game, but it's how I'm able to build connections through the game with these communities and maintain those relationships where I can give back,” Thompson said.

The first trip was in 2022 and Thompson planned to go on her own to Argentina. In the end she was accompanied by Tracey Edson, who was a social media manager at Syracuse where Thompson first played college hockey. The two embarked on the journey to Buenos Aires and though language barriers were the toughest part of the trip, it was still a success. 

From there, Thompson visited South Africa in the spring of 2023 with fellow Syracuse teammate Madison Primeau. That trip involved the participants wanting to share their love of soccer with the two, so they played that on some days instead of hockey. It was something Thompson enjoyed. After that trip, Thompson and Primeau talked about how to make their outings more impactful, and they decided opening up the trip to others would be a good idea. So Thompson set up an application and interview process and the two were joined by four other student-athletes on their trip to the Philippines. 

No Sticks Together outing is ever alike, which Thompson enjoys because it gives each one the opportunity to flow and flourish as it wants, without pressure on the volunteers or the participants to stick to an itinerary. “We don't have a strict idea of how it's all gonna go until we get there,” Thompson said. “That's the best part, because I think when you step into a culture that's not your own, you have to be cautious as to not just push yours on onto theirs and be like we're going to teach you hockey and you're going to do this every single day.”

It was also helpful to have more people on board. Thompson said it felt more impactful because everyone who was there wanted to learn from the students taking part and each person was also able to connect with the participants in their own way. Another way this event stood out was how Thompson and fellow volunteer Gabi Davidson Adams were the ones who kept things structured and organized and laid out the plans for how to teach the kids while the other four girls found ways to create a bond with the kids there. 

“I felt that balance was great because we were able to keep it structured to a point where like the kids were learning hockey, which was great, but they also were just surrounded by people that we're so excited to play with them and hang out and I think that balance was perfect for the team we had,” said Thompson.

She admits she doesn’t know what her life will look like after college, but she still hopes to continue Sticks Together trips in the future. This year’s trip will look a little different. The St. Lawrence women’s hockey team will be taking an international trip this summer and Thompson has already had discussion about taking a few days out of the trip to teach hockey to two different communities, an opportunity a lot of her teammates have never had and Thompson is hoping they will all love. Thompson said she does think of her initiative in the long term but also takes each one year by year to see how she can continue to build relationships with communities all over the world. 

Winning the award would mean everything to her, Thompson said, because what she is most proud of is what she has been able to accomplish with her foundation. Though she won a College Hockey America Championship with Syracuse and appeared in the NCAA Tournament in her five seasons in college, she said winning would mean the most to her for the simple fact it represents something greater and something she’s tirelessly worked to build that is separate from her on-ice performance. And she admits being nominated again already means so much to her. 

“It means a lot already to be named amongst these people, but I think it would be a special way to commemorate my career and only inspire me more to keep building on Sticks Together and impacting more communities.”

The 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award is celebrating its 30th season this year. For the first time in its history, four of the five finalists are women. This year’s recipient will be announced on Friday, Apr. 11, 2025 during the NCAA Men's Frozen Four weekend. This story is part of a series highlighting the four female finalists for the award. To learn more about Sarah Thompson and Sticks Together check out their website here, stickstogether.org