BREMERTON — With the speed of a rusted, barely functional locomotive, they stormed. Side by side, Marines and soldiers battled each other for position as they moved downcourt. Riding “donkeyback.”

The game was donkey basketball. Service members from local Marine, Army and Navy recruiting offices participated, as well as the West Sound Warriors hockey team.

The mission was to raise money for Kitsap Food Backpacks 4 Kids, a nonprofit that gives in-need students five pounds of food to take home over the weekend and help feed their families.

“We’re very pleased with the turnout and were hoping to make it an annual event,” said Carol Unger, a board member with Backpacks.

About 400 people attended the games at the Youth Wellness Center on Wheaton Way March 21. After expenses, they raised over $1,000, Unger said.

Backpacks serves about 50 kids from Armin Jahr, Green Mountain, PineCrest and Cougar Valley Elementary schools, according to Unger.

“This is the first year we’ve done it in our area,” Ungren said.

They’re looking to expand, too.

“We’ve got the resources, we’ve got the volunteers — we just need the funding,” Ungren said.

The donkeys came from an outfit in Entiat called Donkey Sports. While the donkeys rarely moved with haste, they weren’t shy about bucking. Several helmet-clad riders were thrown to the ground.

Buckets were hard to come by. In the first game, the Marines and soldiers missed the vast majority of their shots. The Army won 4-2.

Ultimately, Navy beat Army in the championship round because, as Ungren puts it, they paid off the scorekeeper.

Chief Amy DeGuzman said that was the plan all along.

“It’s a Navy town, the Navy’s gotta win,” DeGuzman said. “We raised as much money as possible for the kids,” DeGuzman said.