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Ontario youth helps kids hit the ice
Darrell Greer Northern News Services Published Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Christopher Smith was among 10 students from Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School in Toronto, who spent six days in Rankin this past year as part of a YMCA exchange program.
One aspect of Smith's involvement was to bring an awareness of his exchange community to his peers. To that end, Smith created a Facebook page and e-mailed a letter to family and friends about his adventure. His efforts resulted in an outpouring of support, including the hockey team he was playing with at the time. Soon the families of Tavistock Court and Credit Valley Wolves Midget Blue Hockey Team were collecting gently used hockey equipment to send to Rankin. The news travelled to neighbours and friends, who also began to donate gear. It took awhile, and a great deal of effort on behalf of Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre youth co-ordinator Helen AbenRaynen, but the gear was finally presented to Rankin rec co-ordinator David Clark this past month. Clark said most of the equipment was of high quality and barely used. He said the vast majority of the gear is already being used in the community. "The equipment came in a wide range of sizes, so it's been distributed among young kids all the way up to midget-aged players," said Clark. "We even had a parent who wanted to take his child for a skate, and there was a pair of skates in there that fit him, so it was something to give him those and watch him take his kid out skating. "Most of the gear went to hockey players, but a lot of skates went to kids who always come to public skating without skates of their own. About 100 kids come to skate each day, and a lot of them don't own their own, so this really helped many of them participate." Clark said the donated equipment also helped a lot of players who were outgrowing their current gear. He said a number of Rankin kids are playing hockey because of the donation, who otherwise wouldn't be able to. "This was quality equipment that really helped a lot of kids here. "We still have some gear available in our minor hockey room, so people are more than welcome to come and take a look to see if anything works for them."
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