Each week in our City Shapers reports, we’re celebrating the women of Western New York who are making it a better place to live. Amy Lesakowski is the co-founder and executive director of the 11 Day Power Play. She moved to Buffalo when she was 4-years-old.
Lesakowski and her husband, Mike, started the 11 Day Power Play in 2017, but they got the idea well before that.
“I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 35 in 2009,” Lesakowski said. “And, after that, I had gotten into fundraising. Giving back to the cause. And, I did Susan Komen walks, I had participated in the bicycle ride from New York City all the way to Niagara Falls to raise money for cancer causes, and my husband kept saying from day one, we can fundraise so much more through the sport of hockey.”
Being a hockey family, it was a natural fit. They decided they wanted to break the world record for the longest hockey game.
