The Pella girls wrestling team aimed to step up to help a healing community with their competition on Thursday. At their home quad meet, Head Coach Adam Hale says the team organized “Pins for Perry,” with the goal of raising money through local businesses for every pinfall recorded, regardless of team. Shirts were also purchased for all of the competitors from English Valleys, Norwalk, and Newton.

“While the wrestling results were nice, what I’m most proud of is the Pins for Perry part of the night. I don’t have all the specifics of the conversations our girls had, so I apologize if I miss anyone but want to credit those I’m aware of: I got a message from Emmalee telling me the team wanted to do something for Perry, then was told Elaine came up with the “Pins for Perry” theme and developed the design for the shirts that all the teams wore. Lyndon also had the idea to make it a fundraiser in some way. From there we contacted some local businesses who stepped up big. Pella Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Pella Real Estate Services, WIN Magazine, Linahon CAD Solutions, Financial Architects, Washington State Bank, Culver’s, and Kevin Van Wyk State Farm combined to pledge $55 per pin by any of the four teams. That money will be sent to Perry to use in whatever way is most helpful. I’m extremely proud of our team, the hearts they have, and the ideas they came up with.”