Our Mission

The Colin F. Kennedy Foundation aims to strengthen the community by providing greater opportunities to underserved families, with a particular focus on improving the lives of the youth. By raising awareness and support for underserved families and their children, the Colin F. Kennedy Foundation works to provide aid and opportunities to children with the goal of enabling them to grow and succeed. Whether through financial support, providing a chance to learn vocational skills, participate in arts and athletics, or by simply creating opportunities that otherwise do not exist, the Colin F. Kennedy Foundation strives each day to better the community by brightening the future of its youth.

Who We Are

The Colin F. Kennedy Foundation is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit based in Rochester, New York, providing funding to create empowerment opportunities for youth in multiple communities in which our supporters work and live.

In 2008,  Colin Cup was started as an annual charity hockey tournament in memory of Colin F. Kennedy. This tournament honored Colin's wish to have started an annual hockey tournament for family and friends, and donated funds to support community-based athletic, artistic, and academic programs for underserved kids.  

This annual tournament grew into what is now the Colin F. Kennedy Foundation, allowing us to support and provide opportunities for a broader section of people within our community. 

The Man behind the Idea….Colin F. Kennedy:

Colin was a father, partner, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, grandson, son, and teammate; yet, the title he embraced best was “friend”. He was a friend to his neighbors, a friend to his family, and most importantly a friend to the communities he represented. Colin had a knack for making those around him feel the depth of his friendship and loyalty. It did not matter if you knew him for five minutes, or shared a room with him your entire childhood, Colin’s presence made an impact on you. That impact is something he cherished, and it was always intended to help provide for those in his community.

Colin was born and raised in the city of Rochester.  Rochester made him who he was, but it came with some help from the short stints he spent in other places along the way. He was an avid hockey player whose skates took him on multiple journeys throughout his short life. Yet, the city in which Colin was born, and the people in his community, never strayed too far from his heart. Being a member of a very large extended family, and having a robust group of friends, Colin noticed that as life and its obligations wore on, opportunities for time spent with those you cared most about decreased.

After the birth of his son, Colin was attempting to find a way to bring his loved ones together on a consistent basis. His passion for the sport of hockey, and his desire to give back, combined to form a unique event to bring all those he cared about together. In 2005, Colin began to constantly bring up the idea of hosting a pond hockey tournament in his new backyard on Indiana Street in Rochester. The tournament was meant to be a light-hearted excuse to get family and friends together for a fun-filled afternoon, but as he continued to talk about the idea, he began to see the potential for leveraging the tournament as an opportunity to give back to those in his own community. The idea was choppy and green, but as the years went on his aspirations intensified.

Unfortunately, in the winter of 2006, Colin unexpectedly passed away at the age of 22. As those around him looked for ways to maintain his memory, the discussion of the tournament worked its way into the conversation.  The following year, his six brothers and a hand full of friends decided to host that tournament in his honor and memory, birthing “The Colin Cup”. The event has become a yearly tradition, and the marquee fundraiser for the Colin F. Kennedy Foundation. The Colin Cup has become an annual reminder, not only of Colin and the values he embraced, but a reminder of the positive impact one person can have within their community.

Cheers to Colin! 

Board Members

Nick Lippa - Chairman of the Board

Martin Kennedy Sr. - Vice Chairman

Richard Kennedy - Secretary

Patrick Kennedy - Treasurer

Paul Kennedy

Mike Geraci

Conleth Kennedy

Carroll Kennedy

Maura Halloran

Nate Lippa

William Kaser

Ben Nally

Mike Roorda