– by Carole Pearson, photos by www.nuttycake.com –
“What’s the best way to bring Canadians together? Organize a hockey game!” declares Craig Smith, Executive Director of Help Fill a Dream Foundation.
Seaside magazine’s second annual Taking it to the Street Hockey Tournament, held at the Mary Winspear Centre on June 13, in support of Help Fill A Dream Foundation proves how true this is. Nine teams signed up to battle for road hockey supremacy. This year’s tournament raised $11,400, with ScotiaBank and their Sidney branch pledging to match the amount raised, up to $5000.
Craig describes the event as “the culmination of a vision by Sue Hodgson.” The Seaside magazine owner made a commitment three years ago to become involved in supporting the foundation. “I’m thrilled to work with the foundation and to be able to assist in fulfilling dreams.”
Since it began 29 years ago, Help Fill a Dream has fulfilled the dreams of more than 2,100 Vancouver Island children (to age 19) facing lifethreatening conditions, and has given financial support to their families when and where it’s most needed.
At this year’s Taking it to the Street event was a guest appearance from Marty the Marmot, mascot of the Victoria Royals, and the Kraft Hockeyville Canada trophy was on display for photo ops. Some great prizes were raffled off, there was a Fun Zone for smaller kids, and a shootout contest for the bigger ones – two players from each team!
The highlight of the day is the Dream ‘reveals’. At this year’s Taking it to the Street event, two children had their dream come true and both had chosen the same destination – Hawaii!
Five year old Coen Wallace was born with nonfunctioning kidneys and underwent a kidney transplant at the age of three. He is finally able to travel and his dream is to go somewhere warm and play on the beach. He’ll be flying off to Hawaii with his family soon for some quality beach-time.
Eleven year old Emma Smith wants to go to Hawaii to see volcanoes and enjoy a luau. Emma was diagnosed a few years ago with a malignant brain tumour and her struggle continues. It has been an arduous journey for her and the family but a more pleasant one lies ahead when they take off for a week on Oahu.
Telus supplied almost half the volunteers at the tournament. Telus vice president Tim Draper says, “They’re here as a part of Telus Day of Giving where employees, their families and friends commit a day and give back to the community.” Next year, he says, there could be a Telus team in the tournament as well.
Over in the food concession area, TD Canada Trust’s James HaleyBrowning grills up hot dogs and burgers. “TD is sponsoring the barbeque and covering the cost of the food so all the proceeds go to the charity,” he says. “TD does a lot of charitable donations around children’s health and wellbeing so this is right up our alley.”
Also at the tournament was Arianne Stevenson, a student at Parkland Secondary whose presentation in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative program won a $5000 grant for Help Fill a Dream. Arianne says she was inspired by the story of 15 year old Kelley Slater who was last year’s Taking it to the Street dream recipient. Kelley has cystic fibrosis and his dream was to travel to Sweden and Finland with his hockey team.
The generosity of the local businesses and corporate sponsors who gave money and donated prizes made this all possible. Without the volunteers who spent their Saturday directing traffic, helping set up and take down, and keeping game scores, this event could not have happened. The people who bought food, came out to play street hockey, and purchased raffle tickets all helped support a very good cause.
“We don’t always have to make a big time or money commitment to make a big difference in our community,” says Sue. “It’s the little things that count.”
