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MINNEAPOLIS 鈥� The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation has named its five finalists for the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award, and Bemidji State women's hockey senior defender Kendra Fortin is one of the five finalists.

Fortin is the first-ever student-athlete from Bemidji State, men's or women's program, to reach the final voting stage for the prestigious award, which is presented to college hockey鈥檚 鈥渇inest citizen鈥� for leadership in community service. She is being recognized for her service in bringing awareness to organ donation on the campus of Bemidji State and within the Bemidji community.

Fortin will now go through an interview portion with HHA Foundation committee members and awaits the committee鈥檚 decision which will be announced in March.

Since her arrival on campus as a freshman at Bemidji State in the fall of 2021, Kendra Fortin has been an advocate for organ donation, using her platform as a Division I women's hockey student-athlete to inform the Bemidji community about the importance of registering as an organ donor.

It is a passion that was borne out of an acute family circumstance. When she was 9 years old, Kendra's dad, Cory, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure. He was told he would need a kidney transplant to live. Years passed with no match. Meanwhile, Kendra committed to attending and playing hockey at Bemidji State.

That's when she started the "Kidney for Cory" campaign in her hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Thankfully, the campaign was a success.

In June 2021, Cory received a life-saving kidney transplant from a deceased donor. Without organ donors, Cory wouldn't be here today. Since then, Kendra has devoted her time to raising awareness for organ donation. For the past three seasons, she has organized an Organ Donation Awareness weekend at both Bemidji State men's and women's hockey games.

Each year, Kendra creates informational pamphlets, t-shirts and donor bracelets to be given to fans, teams and staff members. She also works closely with the BSU athletic media relations staff to maximize local media coverage, while organizing social media posts to promote organ donation awareness. The event has evolved to become not just a success, but also a respected tradition that will continue beyond her time with the team and BSU.

Fortin joins Keri Clougherty (Boston College), Hank Kempf (Cornell), Raice Szott (Merrimack) and Sarah Thompson (St. Lawrence) as finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award which is being awarded for the 30th time.

The 30th recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award will be honored in a ceremony on Friday, April 11 as part of the NCAA Men鈥檚 Frozen Four weekend in St. Louis. Additionally, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation will make donations to the charity most important to each of the five finalists. These donations are made possible with the generous support of the award's partners and donors.