Minnesota RollerGirls Smash Fundraising Goal For Pulling Together

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's an epic tug of war across the Mississippi River -- WCCO's Pulling Together is a battle between several teams, half from the St. Paul side, the other half from Minneapolis.

The real winner will be Fraser. All money raised goes to help kids and adults with autism and special needs. In order to compete, each team needs to raise $10,000, and the Minnesota RollerGirls seem to have found a formula that works.

For the RollerGirls, being so far ahead in fundraising comes as no suprise.

"Whatever we're doing, we're doing it 100 percent," Roller Girl "Animal" said. "Whether we're raising money, or putting on a bout, or pulling Glam Doll Donuts into the river."

As aggressive as roller derby is, Roller Girl "Scootaloo" says a good cause makes it even easier to get aggressive off the track.

"We're all just super competitive, so if you want results just pit us all against each other," she said.

So they made a competition within the team. With only ten spots for tug of war and almost 30 of them wanting in, the girls who raised the most money got a spot on the team. Friday was the deadline.

"And all of the donations just came sweeping in that final Friday, and it was really cool to see the standings change like every half hour, dramatically," Scootaloo said.

The RollerGirls also had an ambitious goal -- reach the $10,000 in fundraising early.

"If we made our goal before today, our head ref said that he'd donate $100 for every year he's skated, which is 13," Scootaloo said.

While they continue to raise money, they continue to get pumped up for the tug of war. Here's their message to Captain Chris:

"Well, since we kicked Chris's butt in the Agri-Olympics last year, I feel like we're going to bring something special to this team," Animal said.

"Well, we all know he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and I don't know, I think the smaller, the feistier, and we've got a lower center of gravity to pull," Scootaloo said. "So I think those tall people are going swimming."

The Minnesota RollerGirls have raised more than $11,000 for Fraser. They'll be facing off against Glam Doll Donuts of Minneapolis June 10 when all the teams get together at Hidden Falls Regional Park.

That includes WCCO, which pits Team Frank Vascellaro against Team Chris Shaffer.

There is still time to help Fraser and support your favorite team, just head to WCCO.com/pullingtogether.