Karen Chabot, vice-president of the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association, says for years the community has helped support the local youth sports organization.
Now, she says it’s their turn to give back.
This year, for the first time ever, the WLMHA has launched a Christmas Food Drive involving all of the association’s players and teams.
“The community is a generous supporter of WLMHA and you get looking at how much they give to the kids, not just in hockey, but in all the sports associations,” she says. “We appreciate them, so organizing a food drive to support our local food bank and Salvation Army makes sense.”
The Williams Lake Salvation Army will supply more than 250 families with Christmas hampers this holiday season, along with their regular food bank services and breakfast and lunch programs.
“As an association we would like to help them fill the shelves,” she says. “It’s their busy season and we’re a winter sport so it seems like a good fit.”
Between now and Dec. 1 players and teams within the WLMHA will be collecting as much food as possible for the local food bank. With 35 teams participating Chabot says the food drive challenge is the first of what she hopes will become an annual event.
“If we had truckloads when this was all done, that would be a great thing to have,” she says. “It touches a lot of families in our town so hopefully we can help as many people as we can.”
As an added incentive players will be competing amongst one another during the food drive. The team that collects the most food (per player) in both the junior and senior divisions will be awarded a team party.
Novice, atom and atom development players will compete in the junior division and peewee, bantam, midget, peewee rep, bantam rep and midget rep players will compete in the senior division.
“The winning teams will have their choice of a team party at Boston Pizza or a night at the movies for the team,” she says.
Donations will all be compiled and collected Sunday, Dec. 1, at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Chabot says while the food drive is a WLMHA initiative they won’t turn anyone away who wants to help donate.
“If people want to help us out, or if they know someone attached with minor hockey, get in touch with them,” she says. “Or if they don’t know where to go they can drop items off at the minor hockey office [Cariboo Memorial Complex].”
For more information e-mail Chabot at pkchabot@shaw.ca.