Woodburn Independent Online

FPMS teacher brings home gold and silver for Valor student

J.P. Bustamante participated the Portland Winterhawks’ Dash For Cash on behalf of Valor Middle School student Layla Varrera

• By: Charissa Bernard  
• Published: 12/2/2009 11:18:29 AM
• Last Updated: 12/2/2009 11:18:47 AM

Dash For Cash
French Prairie Middle School instructional assistant J.P. Bustamante (in blue hat) scrambles to collect as many gold and silver dollars as he can in two minutes during the Portland Winterhawks’ Dash For Cash on Nov. 7.

Driving a group of Woodburn After-School Club students up to Portland to see a hockey game Nov. 7, French Prairie Middle School instructional assistant J.P. Bustamante never would have guessed he would spend part of the night on his belly at center ice, shoving gold coins into his shirt.
 
“It was probably the coolest thing I’ve done in a long time,” Bustamante said later. “It was a lot of fun.”
 
The event that Bustamante is referring to is the Portland Winterhawks’ Dash For Cash promotion, which took place during the second intermission at the Nov. 7 game. During the intermission, $10,000 in silver and gold dollars were spread out at center ice, and 40 people had two minutes to race to center ice to pick up as many of the silver dollars as they could.

Before the game started, the 28 Woodburn students signed up for the promotion as they entered the Rose Garden, and Valor Middle School seventh-grader Layla Varrera was one of 40 people selected to take part in the Dash. Unfortunately for Layla, participants must be over the age of 18, so Bustamante took her place, promising her all the money he collected.
 
Not knowing quite what he had gotten himself into, Bustamante was a bit nervous.
“There was a pretty big crowd — 9,000 fans — so I’m walking out on the ice and I’m thinking, ‘Holy crap,’” he said.
 
As for strategy, a pair of gloves and a tucked-in shirt worked as gathering tools for Bustamante as he ran across the ice, along with the other contestants.
 
“I ran for about halfway through and I slid the other half on my stomach with my hands straight out trying to collect as much as a I could,” he said.
 
“Once I had a big enough pile, I was throwing them down my shirt, and two minutes went by like that (snaps).”
 
In all, Bustamante collected $363. He and Layla got to keep two of the coins as keepsakes, and then the Winterhawks sent Bustamante a $361 check on Nov. 21. The next school day, Nov. 23, Bustamante presented the money to Layla during her lunch.
 
“I told the story to the kids there and embarrassed her pretty good,” Bustamante said, noting that the money will come in handy for Layla. “Her mom said she was excited, with Christmas coming up.”

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